Charles Leclerc

Leclerc happy to be ahead of Vettel

Martin Macdonald Saturday 30 March 2019 17:43

Charles Leclerc says he is happy to be in front of team-mate Sebastian Vettel ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday after successfully claiming the first pole position of his career with a record-setting lap in qualifying on Saturday.

The Monegasque driver was only involved in his second ever qualifying session with Ferrari at the Bahrain International Circuit, but impressed throughout and eventually took pole with a lap of 1:27.866 which breaks the previous record held by Vettel.

Leclerc secures maiden pole in BahrainRead more

Despite being a rookie and viewed by many as Ferrari’s secondary driver for the season, Leclerc beat the competition to finish fastest, and he was delighted in particular to get the better of his team-mate.

“Yeah, extremely happy,” he told Sky Sports after the race about his pole.

“Obviously, in the last race, I was not very happy with my qualifying. I did some mistakes in Q3 and I really worked hard to try and not do the same mistakes here.

“It's obviously extremely hard,” he said of competing with Vettel.

“Because, obviously, Seb is an amazing driver, and I've learnt a lot from him and I'll probably learn all year long with him but today I'm very happy to be in front of him.”

Ferrari earned a first row lockout after Vettel finished in second, while Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes made up the second row.

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Leclerc happy to be ahead of Vettel

Leclerc happy to be ahead of Vettel