Ferrari's Charles Leclerc admits he is still seeking the 'perfect driving style' after claiming 2022 F1 Bahrain GP pole

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claims he is still fine-tuning the 'perfect driving style' despite securing pole position at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver pipped Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz to win pole position in the first qualifying session of the year.

Leclerc and Co. have looked dominant from pre-season testing in Barcelona, giving fans hope of the Italian team's comeback in 2022. All suspicions were erased in the first qualifying session in Bahrain, where the 24-year-old went fastest of anybody, including reigning world champion Max Verstappen.

In a post-qualifying interview with David Coulthard, the Ferrari driver, however, revealed that he is not yet satisfied with his style of driving in 2022. When asked if there was room for improvement, he said:

“Of course there is. Also, from the driving point it is completely different compared to last year. Testing was very useful for me. I have tried many different driving styles and still need to find the perfect one. So yeah, there is definitely much more to come hopefully from us.”

Speaking about how the new cars feel, Charles Leclerc said:

“It feels quite good. We were pretty sure that Red Bull was going to be a bit quicker than us also in qualifying but yeah, good surprise that it wasn’t the case. So now we need to finish the weekend on a high tomorrow and it is not going to be easy. The tire degradation here is a thing, especially with this increased weight. We need to focus on that and have a good race tomorrow.”

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Ferrari missed out on front row lockout by 0.006 seconds

Spanish driver Carlos Sainz finished P3 at the end of Q3 with a blisteringly fast time of 1m 30.687s. The 27-year-old missed out on pole by just 0.129 seconds, taking P3 instead with reigning world champion Max Verstappen splitting the two Ferraris.

Max Verstappen looked strong for pole position, having dominated Q1 and Q2. Despite his stellar form, the Dutchman missed out on pole to Charles Leclerc by 0.123 seconds, putting him in P2 on the grid for tomorrow's main race.

The Mercedes cars seemed to struggle for pace in comparison to Red Bull and Ferrari. Former Williams star George Russell could only manage to put his W13 in P9, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton could only find P5 on the grid. Russell was out-qualified by former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, who managed an excellent P6 in his Alfa Romeo.

Catch the main race of the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, where Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz hope to take Ferrari back to the top of the sport once again.