It’s been a mixed start for Ferrari at the Bahrain Grand Prix, even though they brought the biggest upgrade package of any team so far this season. The team introduced a major change to the floor of the SF-25, hoping it would help them close the gap to the front of the grid. But despite the new parts working as expected, they still couldn’t match the pace of McLaren.
 

READ MORE: What upgrades are F1 teams bringing to the Bahrain GP?

Charles Leclerc ended the second practice session in fourth place, over half a second behind Oscar Piastri, who led a McLaren 1–2. “To be honest, the gap to McLaren is still too big,” Leclerc, quoted by Motorsport.com, admitted.

“When we look at them, they’re just on another planet right now. It’s annoying, but that’s how it is, and it actually motivates me to push even more to close that gap.” While Ferrari’s upgrade is a step in the right direction, it hasn’t made them fast enough to fight for the top spots just yet.

Leclerc said the team now has to make the most of what they’ve got. “We’ve got to maximise the car potential that we have for now,” he said.

“Whether that means finishing third, fourth or fifth, I don’t know yet, but we’ll take it. I just hope that soon we’ll be back at being the fastest car on track. Then it’ll be about maximising the car for wins, not just for P3.”

At the moment, Ferrari seems quite close to Mercedes, but it’s still not clear where Red Bull really stands, since Max Verstappen didn’t do many laps in practice.

“With Mercedes, it seems we’re pretty much there. With Red Bull, it’s a bit more difficult. I think Max had one less set of tyres in FP2, so he’s probably still a bit ahead,” Leclerc explained.

“But there’s still performance to be found on our side by making the most of the upgrade, and we’ll see where that leads us.”

Lewis Hamilton said the upgrade is working, but added that the team still needs to improve the car’s consistency across the whole lap. “The upgrade is definitely working,” he said.

“A big thank you to everyone back home – there’s a lot of work that goes into these parts, and it’s good to see we’re taking steps forward.”

He added: “What we’re still missing is consistency, just being able to put the whole lap together with a car that’s easy to drive and stable. But we’re getting there.”