Why did Charles Leclerc change his Energy Store during F1 Bahrain GP? Real reason behind move explored

After overnight concerns from the team, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has already switched to a new engine component in his car. Ferrari's racing strategy was heavily scrutinized last season, but Fred Vasseur has taken over as team principal.

Leclerc will start third on the grid for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, just behind the two Red Bulls. However, Charles Leclerc is the first driver to have to go over his engine components allocation for the season.

Each driver is allowed two energy stores (ES) for the entire season. This component serves as the car's "battery" and manages the energy gathered by hybrid ancillaries such as the MGU-K and MGU-H.

He will not be penalized, but by choosing to take a new energy storage, he has used up half of his allotted amount for the year. A power unit contains six components, one of which is the energy store. For the 23-race season, F1 drivers are permitted to carry two fresh energy reserves.

Charles Leclerc will also utilize new control electronics in Bahrain, despite the fact that drivers are only allowed two new control electronics each season.

After a request made by the team to the technical delegate overnight, Leclerc has received his second energy reserve.

Charles Leclerc sat out the closing minutes of Q3 on Saturday, citing a need to preserve his tires for Sunday's race. He failed to complete a last Q3 flying lap in an attempt to remove Verstappen from pole position.

Leclerc will start third in the first race of 2023, after polesitter Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Verstappen was a major title contender last year and he might be his biggest threat in Bahrain.

While Ferrari will not identify a No. 1 driver this season, it will be interesting to see how Vasseur manages Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz, who will start in P4.

When Ferrari had to replace that engine component in Leclerc's vehicle, Red Bull had to make adjustments as well. The team chose to modify an oil inlet pipe on the internal combustion engine on both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez's cars (an allowed like-for-like component modification that incurs no penalty and has no specific allocation).

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Charles Leclerc is sceptical that Ferrari's tyre strategy will be a "game changer" in Bahrain

When Leclerc exited the Ferrari garage, Red Bull's Sergio Perez remained on the track, taking second position from Leclerc to clinch an all-Red Bull first row lockout.

Charles Leclerc will start third on the grid in Bahrain, with teammate Carlos Sainz in P4. He, on the other hand, has discounted Ferrari's tire selection. Leclerc admits it will grant him more grip, but he doesn't "know whether it will be a game changer.

Verstappen isn't anticipating that, considering that he only has one pair of fresh new soft tires and one set that has only completed one lap.

"The goal is to always try and improve, i think we improved our process of… throughout the race trying to take care more of these tyres but if I look in FP2 we are still quite a bit slower than Red Bull in terms of pace and tyre degradation," he said.

Ferrari's tire risk generated doubts about whether the Scuderia was concerned about race pace, which was a problem last season. Ferrari not only battled tire deterioration throughout the 2022 championship, but they also had to turn down their engine due to reliability issues.

Charles Leclerc is confident that those concerns have been fixed this year, but he is unsure whether the race speed is adequate to challenge Red Bull.