Ferrari in a flap after Leclerc stuns Vettel to claim his first pole
CHARLES LECLERC shook up Ferrari — and the world championship pecking order — by beating his grander team-mate Sebastian Vettel to pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The season’s early story has been about number two drivers who refuse to read the script.
In Melbourne a fortnight ago Valtteri Bottas emerged from the long shadows to beat Lewis Hamilton into second place — and then this clinical act of insubordination in the desert.
Ferrari newcomer Leclerc, at 21 years and 165 days, became the second youngest man to ever claim pole, ironically only after Vettel, who was 92 days younger when he stormed a wet Monza — and the minds of the wider public — in 2008. The German went on to win that race.
Vettel, sporting his new Nigel Mansell-style moustache, was erratic under the night sky, running off track and locking up.
He was not on terms with Leclerc all evening, and will start today’s 57-lapper from second on the grid. He was a chastening three-tenths of a second behind the Monegasque. Hamilton will begin third, and Bottas fourth, both with tough tasks ahead of them in light of Ferrari’s rediscovery of pace after their setback in Australia.
It will be intriguing to see what bearing Leclerc’s thumping of Vettel will have on equilibrium in the camp just a few weeks after newly appointed team principal Mattia Binotto indicated that his senior driver — the four-time world champion — would be first among equals, bordering on outright No1.
Leclerc was to play the support role, as he was asked to do at Melbourne: specifically, not to race Vettel when they were running fourth and fifth. He dutifully followed orders.
Will Ferrari continue to favour Vettel today and shuffle him ahead, probably by sleight of strategy?
Will Leclerc be told to move over?
The answer to the former is ‘possibly’; the answer to the latter is ‘almost certainly not’.
It would be damaging to Formula One if either manipulation occurred. The pair should be free to race without constraint. For heaven’s sake, it’s only the second race of the season.
Happily Leclerc indicated that he will not roll over, saying: ‘We haven’t had our pre-race meeting yet, but I will do everything I can to keep first place.’
Vettel made no public request for favoured son status here
under the lights. He instead paid tribute to Leclerc’s excellence and told him that taking your first pole is a day you never forget.
Vettel’s situation will only become a real predicament if Leclerc’s pace yesterday turns into a pattern.
That is the unthinkable scenario for him because it would spell the end of his Ferrari career. It’s too early for that kind of talk. Or is it?
The potential demise of Vettel has been a subject of paddock conjecture since the younger man, who drove well for Sauber last year to gain his merited upgrade, was first announced as a recruit to the red corner. As for Hamilton, he was hardly downcast last night, seemingly pleased his Mercedes was not as sluggardly compared to the Ferraris as he had feared. Just three-hundredths separated him from Vettel.
‘This has traditionally been a weak circuit for me so I am reasonably upbeat,’ said Hamilton.
McLaren provided considerable signs of improvement a year on from one of their lowest moments.
This is a home race for them, given their largest shareholders are the Bahraini royal family, and failing to make the final qualifying session in 2018 was ignominious.
People in the team chalet averted their gaze from each other back then. Yesterday the mood was markedly different with British rookie Lando Norris excelling in bursts in only his second qualifying session aged 19.
He will start 10th, three places behind team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Just how hard a year it will be for Williams was demonstrated again by the two names at the bottom of the pile — George Russell and Robert Kubica.
They were one-and-a-half seconds behind the rest. They were also the only team to be slower this year than last.
‘This is a marathon,’ said Russell, the second British rookie, of the road ahead. ‘A marathon in which we are a long way behind.’