Charles Leclerc was dreadfully
unlucky not to bag Ferrari's first win of the season and his
maiden F1 triumph in the Bahrain Grand Prix after his engine
started stuttering 10 laps from the end and let McLaren duo
Lewis Hamilton and Valterri Bottas through to get their second
one-two in the second race of the season.
Leclerc had looked on course to convert his first pole
position into a maiden win under the floodlights in Bahrain.
A late safety car brought out for the two Renaults retiring
on the same lap at least limited the damage to Leclerc's race,
as he ended up third to claim his first podium in F1.
It was still a heartbreaking end to what had been a superb
Grand Prix for Leclerc, who had managed much of the race
magnificently from the front and would certainly have become the
108th winner in F1 history had the issue with his engine not
manifested.
There was more woe for Ferrari too, as Sebastian Vettel - who
himself had looked set to claim a podium behind Leclerc - spun
while battling with Lewis Hamilton before dramatically losing
his front wing down the back straight. He was left to fight back
to fifth, behind the fourth-placed Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
"It's part of motorsport, we know that. Sometimes it's not
your day to win and today wasn't ours. In the final part of the
race we had an issue with the power unit and I had to slow
down," said Leclerc.
"It's a shame because the race seemed to me to be under
control. The team is disappointed and I am disappointed but
there are a lot of positives to take home from this weekend.
They gave me an amazing car and that is very much to their
credit.
"The car was very easy to drive and was very good. These
things happen in motorsport: we took the best out of it anyway.
It's my first podium even if I'm not enjoying it as much as I
wanted. It's life, it happens, we'll come back stronger".
Vettel said: "Not the race we wanted. We started first and
second and we didn't finish there. A disappointing evening. I
had a good start but already halfway through the first lap I
realised that the car was extremely difficult to drive.
"I think Charles struggled less as he had no difficulties in
passing me. It was quite tough out there. Then we lost P2 at the
pitstop but came back. In the second stint on the medium tyres
maybe it was a bit better but overall we didn't have the pace we
should have had today.
"While battling with Lewis I made a mistake at turn 4, which
is one of the trickiest corners on the track. I suddenly lost
the car and I spun. In doing so, I damaged the tyres so much
that I had quite a lot of vibrations, which eventually led to
the failure of the front wing. It was Charles' race today, he
got very unlucky. I am sorry for him and for the team".
Team Principal Mattia Binotto said: "It was a shame for
Charles. He was in the lead for much of the race and showed that
he was particularly comfortable here in Bahrain, also setting
the race fastest lap.
"He deserved to win and it was only the reliability problem,
which we must now investigate, which prevented him from doing
so. That is something unacceptable from us and it shows how
important it is to get every last detail right in order to win.
With regards to Sebastian, these things can happen in racing
when you are on the limit, therefore it is more important to
consider the car, which today performed well.
"The team also did an excellent job, producing some really
good pit stops. We head home with many positives on which to
build for the rest of the season, such as our performance level
and the way the team reacted. Clearly there are still various
things that we have to learn and we will continue to work on
them."
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
