Charles Leclerc thinks that it is “clear” Ferrari have improved on last season, but admitted he cannot be “extremely satisfied” with a sixth-place finish at the 2021 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Starting the race in P4, Leclerc made an early move on Valtteri Bottas to move up into third, but the Finn was quickly able to retake the position into Turn 1.
The Monegasque driver finished the race behind McLaren’s Lando Norris and a charging Sergio Perez, who took his Red Bull from the back of the grid to fifth, in sixth and said afterwards that the result represented a good start for the team.
“It’s a nice start and a good feeling and I am reasonably happy with the race today,” Leclerc said. “I cannot be extremely satisfied with P6, but at the end of the day we need to look at where we were last year and it’s clear we have made good progress.
“I had a very good start. I found myself in third place and managed my tyres quite well in the first stint. I think there was probably a bit more left in them, but we had to stop and try to push the others towards different strategies, which was the right thing to do, but it might have cost us a little bit in terms of pace at the end of the race.
“All in all, it was a good race and a positive weekend and we made a good step forward compared to last season. We’re still not where we want to be, so we need to keep working and pushing very hard to get better in the coming races.”
Leclerc’s new teammate Carlos Sainz was making his Ferrari in Sakhir and finished a few places further back in eighth.
Reflecting on his first outing with the Scuderia, the Spaniard said that it was good experience around which he can build confidence in the car.
“I think we had a solid first race today,” Sainz said.
“It was very important for me to complete all the laps and keep building experience with the car. Maybe that’s the reason why this time I didn’t take too many risks at the start and it cost me a couple of places. I was curious to see how the car reacted in the dirty air of a race start and I knew I would have the opportunity to fight back once I got into my rhythm.
“Once the race settled a bit, I started pushing lap by lap and I think we showed a very strong pace with the Medium tyre and especially with the Hard tyre during the last stint. I also managed to pull of some good overtakes.
“Today I’m happy for the work we have been doing the entire weekend. Ferrari wants more. I want more. But it has been a promising start and we’ll keep pushing to get there.”
Ferrari and the rest of the F1 grid return to action in three weeks at Imola.