Sebastian Vettel praised Ferrari for its turnaround after the team locked out the front row of the grid for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc topped all three sessions as he swept to a maiden pole position, with Vettel reinforcing the pace of the SF90 by qualifying in second position.
It comes two weeks after Ferrari was roundly beaten by Mercedes in both qualifying and the race in Australia, which prompted a lengthy internal review in the aftermath.
“Obviously we are both much happier with the car this weekend,” said Vettel.
“The credit really goes to the team, both of us we didn’t feel very happy with the car in Melbourne, team has done very hard work trying to understand why.
“We had some answers coming here, proving today that we are capable of fighting at the front and locking out the front row for Ferrari is a great testament to their work.
“I’m happy, it’s not exactly my day, but that’s how it goes.”
Vettel encountered traffic on his first push lap in Q2, leaving him only sixth, and Ferrari sent him out for a second push lap as a precaution.
That left Vettel with only one set of fresh Soft tyres for Q3 and he consequently completed just one run during the closing stages, as opposed to the two push laps undertaken by Leclerc and the Mercedes drivers.
“With just one run in Q3 of course you have to make it to the end and maybe I was a bit shy in the second sector but, in the end, Charles did a very good job today,” said Vettel.
“He deserves to be on pole; even with an ideal lap it would be very difficult to beat him.”
