Charles Leclerc proved he’s ready for Ferrari ‘leadership role’ with change he made during the Bahrain Grand Prix

Ferrari are still searching for their first Sunday podium of the season, but will see plenty of positives from the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc secured a front-row start on Saturday, albeit he needed George Russell to receive a one-place grid penalty to line up alongside Oscar Piastri.

In stark contrast, Lewis Hamilton started the Bahrain Grand Prix from P9 after failing to extract the same pace out of the SF-25 as his teammate.

Ferrari would have known that a victory for Leclerc was likely out of the question, despite his lofty starting position, due to the pace of the Ferrari, and nearly nailed their strategy.

Ferrari’s strategy has improved under Fred Vasseur, albeit they missed out on points in Australia after pitting too late, and staying out later on their medium tyres on the first stint gave them a distinct advantage during the middle of the race.

Unfortunately, the safety car came out at the opportune time for Piastri and the other leading cars, meaning Leclerc and Hamilton had to settle for P4 and P5, respectively.

It was still Ferrari’s best points haul of the season, but Leclerc wanted more after losing out to Lando Norris during the final laps of the race.

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Charles Leclerc taking on Ferrari ‘leadership role’ with radio calls at the Bahrain Grand Prix

Leclerc’s offset strategy at the beginning of the race in Bahrain denied Piastri his first career grand slam, as he was unable to lead every lap of the race.

However, the Monegasque driver was repeatedly heard on the team radio asking Ferrari to consider the ‘delta’ strategy, and just before entering the pits for the first time, he was heard begging the team, ‘Please, just consider it.’

Instead, Ferrari insisted on their ‘bravo’ call, and commentating for BBC Sport, journalist Andrew Benson said: “This year, I’ve detected a change in Charles Leclerc’s attitude on the radio.

“He’s been quite passive in the past, but it seems like he’s taking more of a leadership role. They are not letting him do it yet, but it’s interesting hearing him trying to do that.”

It’s natural for Leclerc to take on a leadership role at Ferrari despite Hamilton being the more experienced driver.

He knows the team far better than the seven-time world champion, while Hamilton needs to listen to Leclerc’s set-up decisions, given the gulf in pace between the two cars during qualifying.

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Charles Leclerc demanding perfection from Ferrari with F1 championship hopes hanging by a thread

After just four race weekends, Leclerc already sits 45 points behind championship leader Lando Norris.

To put this into context, Leclerc finished the 2024 campaign 81 points behind Max Verstappen, and that’s taking into account the fact that the Dutchman won seven of the first 10 races last year.

Leclerc was asked about the race in his official post-race press conference and said: “There are no regrets after a race like this, we just need to find some more pace.

“We pushed a bit on the first stint, and the second was even faster, but once the Safety Car reset things, our pace just wasn’t good enough to fight the McLarens and George [Russell] in the Mercedes.

“In general, there is not a particular type of corner where we are lacking, we just need more grip all around.

“We will understand our upgrade better in Jeddah next week, I look forward to finding out what we will learn about it there.”

Ferrari fans weren’t happy with Leclerc’s car when they saw his data at the beginning of the race.

Although Ferrari have already delivered their first update package of the season, they still need to take further steps forward to be on the same level as McLaren.