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Things looked a bit dicey for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc at the start of the first qualifying session of the season in Bahrain, as his SF-23 was falling apart in the first lap of the session.
The Monegasque lost a bit of his bodywork during his first qualifying run of the session in Q1, causing him to lock his tyres into turn 1. Ferrar hadn't really shown their true pace on the track till that.
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The incident sent Tifosis into panic mode, and some took to social media to express their concerns. One claimed that the Italian team hadn't changed much heading into the new season, saying:
"New Season, Same Ferrari."
Here are some more reactions:
“We are much closer than what we expected" - Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc said that the team are much closer to their rivals Red Bull than they had expected heading into qualifying. Speaking to F1.com, he said:
“We managed to find that pace for the quali lap, which was great, but we have to keep in mind that in the race run we seem to be a little bit on the back foot compared to Red Bull. I think we are in a better place starting third with new tyres, than starting first with old (tyres) or a bit further. I don’t know if we would have gotten the pole, but it would’ve been close.”
He continued:
“We are much closer than what we expected, which is looking good for the future. I think it makes Formula 1 more exciting, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the races.”
Leclerc's Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, though, was much more critical of his performance and also presented a gloomy forecast for the team in the first race:
“Honestly, I’ve been struggling all weekend since Friday, but today I managed to come back a little bit, and I managed to put together a better lap and a better package going into quali. Obviously, it’s not ideal, but it’s good progress from where I was coming yesterday.”
He added:
“I think in terms of race pace. (Red Bull) are probably a bit farther away than quali, so it’s going to be tricky to mount any kind of challenge on them, but we’re going to try our best, with strategy and with everything we have.”
It will be interesting to see if Ferrari can challenge Red Bull in the first race of the season on Sunday (March 5).
