After a blazing performance throughout the qualifying, Charles Leclerc managed to edge out Sebastian Vettel in a bid to claim his maiden pole position. The Monegasque not only became the 2nd youngest pole sitter, but also the youngest that Ferrari has ever had.
A brilliant lap time of 1:27.886s by the young Ferrari driver, is now the new lap record in Bahrain. Will Leclerc be able to convert his stunning pole position into a race victory, is yet to be seen.
An ecstatic Charles Leclerc described his feelings saying, “I’m truly happy,”
"I’m very satisfied, I put my best three sectors together, which is what I wanted – but of course you can always do better.
“There are a lot of emotions. I’m trying to stay as calm as possible as no points are awarded for pole.
"I will enjoy the moment, it’s been a great day and a great weekend overall for us so far. I hope it continues.
Charles recalled how he struggled just a fortnight before, in the season opener in Melbourne. The Ferrari seemed quite slow as compared to the Mercedes W10, which was evident by the fact that Bottas finished almost a minute ahead of both Vettel and Leclerc.
The 2019 Bahrain polesitter admitted that he has learned from his mistakes in Australia.
“Obviously in the last race I was not very happy with my qualifying lap, especially in Q3. I tried really hard not to do the same mistakes here and it worked.
"Now we focus on the race and try and do the best race possible."
“I didn’t have an expectations [when he joined Ferrari].
"I was completely aware of how much of a big step there is team-wise and competition-wise and of the drivers I’m now fighting with, the best.
"I am just happy it started like this but it’s only qualifying. I hope we are strong tomorrow.”
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