13/04/2025 09:35
Charles Leclerc has hailed the impact of the new floor introduced
by Ferrari in Bahrain following his strong result in qualifying.
The Monegasque driver ended the session in third place, behind
pole-sitter Oscar Piastri and Mercedes' George Russell. However,
following an investigation from the stewards, Russell was demoted
back one position on the starting grid, bumping Leclerc up to the
front row. It marks the first front-row start in a grand prix for
Ferrari this year who has largely struggled for performance across
the opening rounds. Leclerc commended Ferrari for how it has
responded to its early season challenges. "The team has done a
really, really good job," Leclerc told media including
RacingNews365 . "We've all pushed quite a lot in the last few
weeks because we've been struggling with performance. "I know that
at the factory they've been pushing like crazy to try and bring
this floor a bit earlier on, and that definitely made the
difference. "Because if I look at the gap with P4 [Leclerc's
remark came prior to Russell's penalty], it's not that much and I'm
pretty sure that without the floor I wouldn't be P3. "So that's
already one position won." Ferrari is chasing its first podium
result of the season on Sunday, with Leclerc having a stronger
opportunity to claim a strong result compared to team-mate Lewis
Hamilton, who is set to start from ninth. However, Leclerc is wary
the Bahrain International Circuit does not offer the best
opportunity to generate pace from the new upgrade compared to
events coming up on the schedule. "I'm curious to see what it will
do [in the race]," Leclerc said. "However, it's probably not the
best track to extract the maximum out of this new upgrade, but in
the next few weekends we shall see more of it."
