F1 Bahrain GP: “I don’t think we have performance,” Charles Leclerc disheartened by subpar practice sessions ahead of the 2023 season opener

Defending race winner Charles Leclerc lacks confidence in SF-23 ahead of the Bahrain GP.


F1 Bahrain GP: “I don’t think we have performance,” Charles Leclerc disheartened by subpar practice sessions ahead of the 2023 season opener

Charles Leclerc (Credits: Planet F1)

Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari F1 driver, feels his team does not have the firepower to challenge for the pole position during the upcoming qualifying session of the Bahrain GP. The Monagasque is not confident and doubts where his team will end up after Saturday.

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Charles Leclerc ended the Friday FP1 session in P5 with a time of 1.34.257, and during the FP2 session was only able to jump up to fourth by managing a time of 1.31.367. The 25-year-old, while talking about Ferrari’s chances after qualifying, added, “I don’t think we have the performance maybe for pole, it’s still early days. I maybe think that Aston is a bit quicker than what they will be tomorrow. We don’t know. It’s just what I think.”

He further added, “Let’s say that the feeling is better than testing, on my side, in testing, it’s been very inconsistent in the way we run the car because we were testing a lot of things, so I didn’t have much time with the car to my liking. I did today.” While Leclerc has sounded worried going into qualifying, he has admitted that the SF-23 was more to his liking during the Friday practice sessions as compared to the three days of testing.

Also Read: “We will have to speak and fix it,” Fred Vasseur opens on Charles Leclerc’s radio mix-up in Jeddah

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Charles Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz admits to struggling during FP1 and FP2

Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz

Ferrari did not have a bad day at the office, only with Leclerc, the team’s other driver, Carlos Sainz, having an even worse outing. The smooth operator did not turn out to be as smooth as normal. Sainz felt that he was struggling with balance issues, and while shedding light on his exploits, he added, “Simply the car is not exactly responding, as I expect or as it did in testing.”

I’m struggling a bit more with the balance. It’s a bit more out of place compared to where it was. But we’re having a good look at it. We expect to put it back together for tomorrow,” Sainz added.

Carlos Sainz, despite the setbacks, is optimistic and wants to make a good step in the right direction during qualifying. However, it is easier said than done, looking at how far away the Italian team was compared to Red Bull and Aston Martin. Considering everything, would Leclerc and Sainz be able to land their respective cars in the Top 5 at the end of the upcoming qualifying session?

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