Bahrain Grand Prix performance by Charles Leclerc should prompt Ferrari to question Sebastian Vettel's No.1 status

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3:47 pm ET

Laurence Edmondson
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F1 Editor
Nate Saunders
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F1 Associate Editor

He may not have won the Bahrain Grand Prix as he deserved, but did not doubt it, Charles Leclerc has imposed himself as one of the future stars of the Formula 1 this weekend.

His last engine failure was hard to watch and robbed him of a first victory that he will surely not have to wait too long to qualify. It should also have sent a clear message to Ferrari: she has two men also able to win the championship this year. Here is an overview of the main topics of discussion of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Coup de coeur for Leclerc: The sport can be so cruel. Charles Leclerc did everything right Sunday night, but his machines let go 12 laps to go. The sensation in the cockpit must have felt like sheer pain, as the 21-year-old felt a lot of power disappearing under his right foot and his first Formula 1 victory was out of his hands.

Ferrari then confirmed a cylinder cut on Leclerc's engine. The lost performance was worth between four and five seconds per lap, and with that thorn in the flank, Leclerc could not finish in front of the two Mercedes. A podium reassures thanks to a safety car neutralizing the order, as well as a bonus point for a quick lap, but that should have been the best day of Leclerc's career so far. Needless to say, there is no doubt that the days ahead will be much better.

What's wrong with Sebastian Vettel ?: While a Ferrari driver deserves a lot of applause, the one driving the other car might have some explanations to give when reporting after race. Vettel had taken the lead early in the game, but he had no answer to give Charles Leclerc. But a lack of raw speed is easier to explain than what happened to Vettel later.

While he was fighting Hamilton late in the race, he had done well to defend once, but he was shooting in identical circumstances a lap later, Hamilton passing outside turn 4. Replays showed he was There was no contact before, which was similar to the rotation. Vettel suffered as he passed Hamilton at the Grand Prix of Italy last year. He also crashed alone while he was leading Germany several months earlier.

Sunday night was very similar to the Vettel that collapsed in 2018 and could have set off alarm bells in Maranello. Recent history and the incidents listed above suggest that the four-time world champion will not do well in high-pressure situations and Ferrari hopes his last lap will not trigger a new avalanche of mistakes.

Two contenders for the title: Ferrari said before this season that it would be favor Vettel in all 50/50 situations this year, but for the sake of fairness vis-à-vis the Italian team, both drivers were allowed to run – which was not the case in the last moments of the Grand Prix of Australia. There should be no doubt about it now, both Ferrari drivers are able to win the title this year and Leclerc made a big statement.

The game recognizes the game: It was nice to see Lewis Hamilton's reaction to Leclerc's misfortune. The reigning world champion went directly to the Ferrari driver in the parc fermé and gave him a hug, before offering him some words of consolation as he waited for his place on the podium: "You have led surprisingly all the You have a career in front of you, man, I know it's scary right now. "

Hamilton has always shown recognition for young talent – he's been doing the same thing as Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo in recent years – and it could be said that he felt a little sore to see how the race went. Was unrolled, like his reaction to the victory. in Azerbaijan last year after a late puncture at Valtteri Bottas. But no matter how you win them, is not it?

Lando is worth the hype: Another young man worthy of praise is rookie Landen Norris of McLaren. The 19-year-old driver had a great race and scored a deserved first goal on Sunday night. He made beautiful overtaking at Kimi Raikkonen – a classic battle between young verses players – and Daniel Ricciardo during the race. He has all the faces of the racing prodigy that he had been introduced throughout his fledgling career.

Max takes his elbows: Max Verstappen escaped without punishment for his collision with Carlos Sainz and the debate is open on the legitimacy of his decision. The Red Bull driver left some space inside Turn 4 as he wheeled with the McLaren. Sainz's car immediately suffered a front wing failure and, despite coming out of a pit stop, retired later from the race.

Sainz seemed upset on the radio right after the incident, but calmed down at the end of the race, saying, "It's a race, it's an incident, all I can say is I started well, I did everything I had to do and tried everything, I had to try and I ended up getting worse, it's my turn to do a puncture, because of the force with which it hit me.The normal thing would have been that we both had a puncture and that we are both out of the race.Lucky to continue, but it has me hit hard and that's it. "

Verstappen said: "He tried to get around the outside and braked late.I guess he did not see me.In these cars, you're blind to what's going on next. I braked you late and I saw it turn into the corner, so I had to take some steps to avoid it.We cut the wheels and it was unfortunate. "

Double difficulty for Renault: At one point in the evening, it seemed that Renault's main problem after the race was the fact that its drivers had a slight contact while competing for a spot shortly after the second lap. But three laps from the end, both cars stop almost at the same time.

Renault had had an excellent race at this point – Hulkenberg had rebounded well after his poor qualifying and was running in P6, while Daniel Ricciardo seemed to have made the most of a strategy far from ideal to be ideal for running. in the points. There were good reasons for Renault to feel encouraged this year, including because of the speed in Bahrain. However, unreliability has always been a problem for the French manufacturer at the time of the V6 turbo and Bahrain will have little appease these fears.

Other points of note:

Renault's bad luck has raised Alexander Albon, rookie of Toro Rosso, from 11th to 9th place and the first points of his career in F1 so far. It also helped Sergio Perez get a point.
Daniel Ricciardo escaped without punishment for failing to attach his steering wheel to his Renault after his late retirement. This probably helped to consolidate the Leclerc podium, as it meant that the stewards were not able to pull out his car in time to bring the safety car before the end of the race.

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