Charles Leclerc is set to start the Bahrain GP from P2 on the grid after qualifying P3 and a one-place promotion following George Russell’s grid penalty. After rookie Dino Beganovic drove his car in FP1, Leclerc only had two sessions of practice to prepare for qualifying on Saturday. Thanks to new upgrades for Bahrain, Leclerc qualified in the top three for the first time in 2025.
Unexpected success and increasing comfort for Leclerc in the SF-25
The session took place in the cooler night temperatures in Bahrain, so the track conditions for qualifying were not as challenging as FP1 and FP3, which took place in the heat of the day. Charles Leclerc was able to find a decent pace through Q1 and Q2, with a P7 and a P6 in the sessions, respectively.
In his track interview with former F1 driver David Coulthard, Leclerc expressed his surprise at the pace he found in the SF-25 during the session. He cited his struggle with the old tyres used in qualifying as a key obstacle when trying to find pace.
“I mean, honestly, I didn’t expect P3. I knew that in Q3 there was some lap time. I knew that in Q1 and Q2, I just had to be patient and wait for the track to come towards me in Q3, which was a bit tricky because at the beginning of Q3 everything felt really bad with the old tyres. But then as soon as we put the new tyres it was quite a bit better. So I’m happy.”
After the first three races in the SF-25, Leclerc finds himself in a better position with the car going into Sunday’s race. The Monegasque driver explained that the Scuderia have been testing multiple different setup options in the previous three races, and is looking forward to unlocking even more pace out of the car.
“We explored quite a lot of extreme set-ups in the last few weekends and it feels like I found my way a little bit, and little by little I hope there will be more performance to extract from this car in the weekends to come.”
In the Post-Qualifying Press Conference, Leclerc shared that this small pace improvement was hard-won.
“I think it’s the result of a lot of work. At the beginning of the season, we obviously weren’t where we wanted to be and since two or three races I’ve gone in an interesting direction setup-wise, which seems to help me to extract a bit more out of the car. That’s what I’m trying to do every weekend. For now, it seems to be better and better, which is a good sign for the future.”
Leclerc on Ferrari’s upgrade package for Bahrain
In his Post-Qualifying Press Conference, Leclerc gave his team recognition for the hard work that went into the upgrades they brought into the Bahrain GP. This improvement made a huge difference in a very tight qualifying.
“The team has done a really, really good job. 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, it’s not that much and I’m pretty sure that without the floor I wouldn’t be P3.”
The Ferrari driver claimed that although this upgrade may not make a huge difference this weekend in Bahrain, he is confident that the team has the ability to further develop with this upgrade as the season goes on.
“I don’t think it’s the best track to have these upgrades on, but it’s always good. It’s a small gain, it’s not a big one, but hopefully next week it will be a bit more of a step forward.”
All eyes on Sunday’s Bahrain GP
With George Russell’s one-place grid penalty for queuing in the pit lane illegally, Charles is set to start the Bahrain GP from the front row alongside McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. The McLarens have been the obvious front runners so far this weekend, finishing at the top of every session.
The McLarens’ effective tyre management is a key feature of their pace in Bahrain this weekend. With high temperatures expected, Sunday’s race is gearing up to be a high-degradation race, playing into the McLarens’ strengths.
“McLaren seems to be extremely good with tyre management and more specifically the overheating of the tyres. We’ve seen it in FP3 — I think everybody was struggling a lot — but Oscar put a lap in that was very impressive.”
Leclerc identified that his race on Sunday is not so much with Piastri as it is with the Mercedes and Red Bulls. The Monegasque driver has a clear vision of what factors will make him succeed in the Bahrain GP.
“I think tomorrow in the race there will be lots of that, so I don’t think we expect to challenge the McLarens, but we might be pretty close with the Mercedes, also with the Red Bulls. So it’s going to be an interesting race. We all have different tyres. A good start will obviously be essential, especially with high temperatures like this, to have clean air plays a big role”
