by VALERIO BARRETTA
Ferrari, Leclerc finishes free practice in Bahrain in 9th place
Charles' ninth place should not be surprising Leclerc in FP2 in Bahrain. It's still the first day of free practice and the teams are still playing hide and seek in their performances. We are also far from the times of pole position: with today's time, Lewis Hamilton would have been seventh on the grid in 2023, with 10 thousandths of an advantage over himself.
Furthermore, the Monegasque was unable to make 100% use of his team time attacks of the afternoon, first due to an error in turn-4 and then for two impeding which cost him tenths of a lap and a few curses on the radio (“Everyone is sleeping tonight“).
Leclerc's words
“I would have been surprised if there hadn't been a battleI expected to be there with the others, the only question mark is Red Bull and how far ahead they will be compared to others. But I would be surprised if we weren't fighting each other“, this was the comment from the Monegasque after Thursday's free practice.
“There isn't much to say other than that it is still difficult to define our level of competitiveness, while even today we had no surprises. However, it was nice to get in the car and start comparing ourselves with the others and really kick off the season. We still have a lot of work to do, especially in terms of balance. I'm curious to see what position we will be in tomorrow“.
#Bahrain #Leclerc #Surprised #hadn39t #battle
