Ferrari Formula 1 boss Frederic Vasseur has admitted that the team was surprised Charles Leclerc managed to take fourth in Bahrain amid a severe brake issue.
Leclerc had started second and was running in that position but was struggling to slow the car down into the downhill left-hander at Turn 10 on several occasions.
The Monegasque driver succumbed a position to George Russell before Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz demoted him further to fifth.
Leclerc would capitalise on a mistake from Russell to recover one place, but he rued afterwards that second had been possible without the “impossible” problem.
It was revealed Leclerc had combated a “100-degree split” on his front brake temperatures, with Vasseur conceding that it was “unexpected” he clung onto fourth.
“We had a big difference on the front brake temp and it wasn’t manageable into the car,” Vasseur explained. “It meant that he had to suffer like this the first 20 laps.
“Then at one stage it came back and he was able to have a decent pace the last part of the race.”
Carlos Sainz recovered from a subpar start to take the final podium position behind the dominant Red Bulls with ease, finishing inside three seconds of Perez’s RB20.
But despite Ferrari establishing itself as the second-fastest team in the opening round, Vasseur believes the marque’s imperfect weekend leaves room for improvement.
“If you compare to already yesterday, we probably missed the pole position,” he continued, referencing Leclerc’s Q2 time being quicker than Max Verstappen’s pole lap.
“Today we had issues with Charles on track and Carlos was not in the best position at the beginning. He had a very strong comeback, he was very solid all race and at the end we closed part of the gap with Red Bull.
“But it’s not enough and we have to push and to continue to develop. But at least we are scoring good points today.”
Ferrari heads to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix next weekend with a haul of 27 points to its name, 17 points behind Red Bull’s maximum score but 11 clear of Mercedes.
