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Charles Leclerc outqualified his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the qualifying session of the 2025 Bahrain GP on Saturday (April 12). Despite a vast deficit in performance, Leclerc put faith in Hamilton to work as a team and fetch good results during the race.
After a disappointing start to the 2025 F1 season, Ferrari brought a floor upgrade at the Bahrain Grand Prix. However, the new components had too little effect on Hamilton's performance as he dropped to a new low in the qualifying session.
He was outperformed by teammate Leclerc for the fourth consecutive time in a qualifying session. While the Monegasque driver finished P3 (later moved to P2 after George Russell's one-place grid penalty), the seven-time world champion driver dropped to P9.
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Meanwhile, in a post-qualifying interview, Charles Leclerc suggested that with a different strategy on Sunday, Lewis Hamilton should be able to perform well and contribute to the team's cause.
"Unfortunately, he [Hamilton] didn't have a good qualifying today, but I'm sure that he will be back as well. Maybe with a different strategy. So we'll hopefully work as a team and see where we can end up," Leclerc said (via La Gazzetta Ferrari on X).
Interestingly, the Monegasque didn't expect to get a front-row start in Bahrain. He explained that while the floor upgrade is producing marginal results, the Bahrain track is not the right place to judge the upgrade's effectiveness.
Regardless, after experimenting with different setups in the first three races, Leclerc is finding his way around to what suits him the best. However, Hamilton's woes continue to linger around.
After the P9 finish in qualifying, he apologized to the team on the radio and admitted that he is not doing his job. Referring to his teammate's performance, he noted that the car has the potential to finish higher, but something is not working out for him.
Lewis Hamilton sets optimistic target for Bahrain GP
After an upsetting P9 finish at the qualifying session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has set an optimistic target for himself for the main race on Sunday. He wants to finish in the top five but acknowledged the challenges associated with that target.
Talking to the media, he said (via formula1.com):
"Hopefully top five ... I'll try and see if I can get into the top five; let's see."
Last week in Japan, Hamilton said that he feels something in his car is underperforming. When asked if that issue is fixed, he replied:
"That's been resolved."
Despite the fixed issue and a new floor, Lewis Hamilton is still struggling to find pace out of his SF-25. The competition on Sunday won't be easy, as he has to battle the likes of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. But as Charles Leclerc mentioned, a different setup and the right strategy could turn things around.
