Charles Leclerc did a cool trick in qualifying

Charles Leclerc will start Sunday’s race from the third grid. PDO

Ferrari star Charles Leclerc did a cool trick in the final moments of the third part of qualifying at the Sakhir track.

Leclerc clocked 1:30.000 and decided to jump out of his car with two minutes left in the last section.

Usually at this point the drivers go back to the track and try to improve their time one more time. Leclerc, on the other hand, watched the climax of qualifying on TV and saw Red Bull’s Sergio Perez drive into the second grid, dropping Leclerc to the third starting grid.

This raised concerns about whether Leclerc’s car had a technical fault, but this was not the case.

– I think we are in a better position when we start with new tires than if we started with old ones, Leclerc said Motorsport along and continued:

– I don’t know if we would have got the pole position, but it would have been close.

According to Leclerc, the car’s performance this season will improve thanks to the new soft tire compounds.

– We seem to have a bit of a weakness at the moment. New tires help. I don’t know how much the picture will change with that, but it’s the right direction nonetheless.

However, Leclerc was surprised by how close Ferrari was to Red Bull in the end. Max Verstappen, who grabbed the pole position, was 0.292 seconds faster than Leclerc.

The Monaco native expected much worse before qualifying.

– I think we fought for the pole position, which was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect it after the tests and I thought after the free practices it would be difficult.

– We were a bit on the back foot compared to Red Bull.

The qualifying sessions in Bahrain were flat.

It has been expected for many years, because usually only the drivers of a few stables have fought for the pole position.

– That makes this more exciting. Hopefully it will continue in the rest of the games, Leclerc said about the consistency.

The first race of the season starts on Sunday at 17:00 Finnish time.