Charles Leclerc admitted that the car felt “alright” during the first two practice sessions in Bahrain, especially in the long run simulation, which gave him confidence.
The Monégasque said that there weren’t “big surprises” on Thursday and the car behaved exactly as the team expected. His single-lap run wasn’t perfect as he made a mistake, but Ferrari is already focusing on qualifying and the race.
“It felt alright, no big surprises, at least on our side, so that is a good thing again. No bad surprises, no good surprises either, just exactly as we expected the car to be.
“In FP2, I made a small mistake on my fast lap. It’s a one-lap tire, so that was it. But apart from that it’s all about tomorrow now, trying to focus to do a step forward.”
Leclerc also added that seeing Mercedes’ result was “a bit of a surprise” but to understand the real pecking order everyone will have to wait until qualifying, at least.
“Mercedes looks strong, which is a bit of a surprise, but we don’t know with what fuel [load] they are running. So I think we’ll have all our answers tomorrow.”
Speaking about the long run, he admitted the car felt “quite good” and he is happy with the balance.
“The feeling was quite good. Again, I felt quite good with the car, and it’s a much better start compared to last year. Last year we arrived at the first race, and it was very difficult to know exactly what was the right window where we could optimize our car.
“Today it’s not the case, we know that we are in the right window for performing at our best with this specific car. Now it’s all about tomorrow, to try to anticipate the conditions of tomorrow, and make the best out of this weekend.”
To conclude, he admitted that many teams are close to each other, but he still cannot understand Red Bull’s real form.
“I expect to be there with the others. The only question mark is obviously Red Bull, how far ahead they are in front, but with the others, I’ll be surprised if we are not in the mix.”