F1 pundit explains Lewis Hamilton's deficit to Charles Leclerc at the F1 Bahrain GP

F1 pundit Mark Hughes explained the gap between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as the latter takes the team lead once again after the qualifying session in Bahrain. He claims that the Briton hasn't been able to establish enough trust in the car as his teammate.

Hamilton's stint with Ferrari has seen him getting out-qualified by his teammate in three of the four races so far this season. Leclerc put himself in P3 after the qualifying session in Bahrain earlier yesterday (promoted to P2 after George Russell's penalties); meanwhile, Hamilton was over half a second slower than his teammate and will start the race from P9.

Mark Hughes explained that the Ferrari is much more "demanding" than their competitors at the top, but Leclerc has been able to find his way around it.

"The Ferrari in its current state is way more demanding than a McLaren, with no consistency in balance between one corner and the next, but Leclerc has been able to take out his brain and ride the bronco, hoping that new tyre grip would cover up the worst of it," he wrote in his column for The Race.

He further explained that Lewis Hamilton hasn't been able to administer enough faith in the car's rear and loses a bunch of time in the crucial corners heading into the second sector.

"Lewis was just not able to muster the same faith as Leclerc in the rear of the car. He couldn't carry anything like the same confidence through the fast, demanding interconnected Turns 5-6-7 sequence where he simply bleeds lap time," he added.

---

Where did Lewis Hamilton lose the most time to his teammate during qualifying?

Charles Leclerc is set to start the race on the front row with a 1:30.175 lap time, meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton dropped to the bottom of the top-10 with a 1:30.772. This deficit in time was caused over the entirety of the track, however, there were parts where the #44 driver lost considerably more time than his teammate, leading to a huge gap in their times.

Analyzing the data from their fastest laps, both Ferraris were almost on equal laptimes in the first sector, with Hamilton also going into negative delta to his teammate into turn 4. However, the second sector was subpar for Hamilton. He lost a chunk of time heading into turn 7, which ruined the chain of low-speed corners for him, hampering his lap despite gaining some time on the back straight.

In most corners, Charles Leclerc seemed to lift off early and get back on maximum throttle late compared to his teammate, but it was his smooth maneuverability that gave him the edge. He gained time over Lewis Hamilton in most corners, which led to his strong position in qualifying.