Charles Leclerc revealed he has optওed for an “extreme direction” with the set-up to extꦦract more speed out of the Ferrari SF-25.

Leclerc put together a brilliant lap at the Sakhir circuit on Saturday, just three tenths down on McLaren’s polesitter 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri, to qualify third for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

He will line up on the front row of the grid after 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Mercedes rival 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell was penalised for entering the pitlane before the race control issued a restart time iဣn Q2.

Leclerc’s pace in qualifying came as a surprise to many, as Ferrari has usually bee🐷n the fourth-fastest team in F1 this year.

The Prancing Horse had brought a major upgrade in Bahrain, changing five key areas on the car, but even then teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton 168澳洲幸运5官ꦏ方开奖结果历史:qualified almo💝st a second off the pace in ninth.

Leclerc explained that his set-up choice was key to his impressive performꦗance in qualifying, but admitted that such an extreme direction comes with certain trade-offs.

“It was very difficult because I'm rꦜunning to quite an extreme direction in the last few weekends in terms of set-up,” he told Sky.

“It fits my driving style but also makes ♌it very, very tricky to drive, but it seems that I'm able to extract a bit more out of the car going in that directioওn.

“So I'll keep going and, race after race, it seem🎶s to be getting better and better, so that's a positive sign for the future.

“But it makes it very difficult. Some parts of qualifying, especially with♏ the used tyres, [the car] was just all over the place and iꦦt was very difficult to put everything together.

“So yeah that's why I said I had♑ to trust the car when I was putting new tyres that everything will come back and it did, so I'm very happy about this.”

Leclerc will have just Piastri’s McLaren ahead of him on the grid, with both 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen having struggled in qualifying on Saturday.

The Monegasque driver said his targeꦬt is to grab the lead at the start, but highlighted that track poꦏsition is not so important on an overtake-friendly circuit such as Bahrain.

“To try and get ahead of Oscar. That’s always theꦬ target,” said Leclerc.

“It’s a long race. I don't think it's those kind of races where track po♋sition out of turn 3 is the main priority.

“Degradati🌠on is probably the biggest thing anℱd McLaren seems to be ahead on that for now.

“We've just got to focus on ourselves. If I can gain one or two positions at 🦋the start, I'll take it. If not, we'll just have to play the patient game and see where we are.”