Leclerc vows to fight back after Ferrari meltdown

A devastated Charles Leclerc vowed to come back stronger after a lack of reliability from Ferrari robbed him of a maiden grand prix victory in Bahrain. The Monegasque suffered a power outage while heading for a certain victory in Sakhir, ultimately finishing third.

Leclerc's spot on the podium was likely only secured as a result of a late safey car, otherwise he would have finished fourth behind Max Verstappen.

As it was, he saw the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas blast by as he demanded answers from Ferrari over team radio.

Leclerc accepted that poor fortune can always follow in motorsport, and admitted that the safety car had been a benefit.

"It happens. It's part of motorsport," he said of his issue. "Unfortunately today was not our day.

"But the team has done a fantastic job to recover the lack of pace in Australia. Of course I'm extremely disappointed as is the whole team but it happens, I think we made the best out of it.

LEC: "It happens. Unfortunately it was not our day. Of course I'm extremely disappointed. A very hard one to take but thanks to the team... Congratulations to Lewis and Valtteri"#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/EjtED7As8L

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2019

"We have been lucky in a very unlucky situation with the safety car at the end otherwise we would have finished even further back, and with the fuel we were not OK.

"It's a very hard one to take but I'm pretty sure we can come back stronger.

"I didn't have a good start but then we were very strong all race long. It's part of racing. I'm always looking at the potential to do better. We'll come back stronger.

"I'm not looking at the result, I'm looking at the potential to do better and today third was not our place."

Related

F1 Superstars

Ferrari star SLAMMED with bizarre 'puppy' reference

• November 20, 2024 22:57

F1 Championship Battle

Las Vegas GP PENALTY hinted for F1 star in title twist

• November 13, 2024 18:59