ferrari is back: pole position, victory, fastest race lap for Charles Leclerc. Shortly behind the Monegasque, teammate Carlos Sainz jr. finished second in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. Then they sang, the Reds, arm in arm to the Italian anthem. In 2019, the Scuderia last felt such a feeling of happiness: “We’re back after two hard years,” Leclerc shouted to his team and the world, as if a wonderful fairy tale from the Arabian Nights had finally been told again under the Arabian night sky.
A little further on, Lewis Hamilton smiled at his luck. “I’m happy for Ferrari, congratulations. For me, third place is the best possible damage limitation.” The Englishman benefited from the disappointment of the day. World champion Max Verstappen fought for victory with Leclerc for a long time before a problem with the fuel supply forced him to give up. As a result, his teammate Sergio Pérez also retired shortly before the end of the first Grand Prix of the season. Being fast alone is not enough. “Losing both cars like that,” said Red Bull’s head of sport Helmut Marko, “is a serious setback.”
The fun brake released
Fast and stable: Ferrari did everything right. At first glance, this also seems to apply to the strategists behind the major rule reform. They wanted to use new design regulations to make overtaking easier, to make it easier for the hunter to approach, after it had been almost impossible in previous years to follow the car in front within striking distance without ruining the tires due to the reduced downforce in the “polluted air”.
Keep your distance in racing traffic? The fun brake of Formula 1. It has apparently been released: 17th lap of 58: After Verstappen’s pit stop, the leader Leclerc rushes to change tires. When he gets back on the track, the world champion is breathing down his neck. The audience groans. The Ferrari in danger.
Leclerc seems to be able to pull away a bit. But at the end of the home straight, Verstappen races past with an illustrious flying sparks through the company car. That was the goal, finally a free ride for the new number one, just as it is on the nose. But the Monegasse in the Ferrari immediately countered to the cheers of the many Scuderia fans in the stands of the kingdom.
Ferrari has a new power in the rear, reportedly Maranello found 25 hp. The enormous traction is noticeable when accelerating. Schwups Leclerc is over again. Last year the excitement would have subsided and the common spectators would have sat down again, there was nothing more to be done with a view to the tyres, one shot. But this time the game started again a lap later at the end of the home straight: Verstappen sucks himself, pushes past, the audience groans again before screaming with delight a few turns later: Leclerc again in front.
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