Bahrain Grand Prix – “The team mentality is the right one”

Sakhir, 28 March 2019 – As usual, Thursday was the time for media work for the Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, who tomorrow take to the track for free practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship.

Sebastian. A relaxed Sebastian Vettel was first up to meet the press in the team hospitality and he tackled a variety of topics, including the performance of the SF90 and expectations for the upcoming Grand Prix. Sebastian won here last year and he has good memories, including tangible ones such as the trophy. “I love the trophy here in Bahrain. I think it’s the best of the season. It’s big and heavy, that’s the way it should be!” he said. The German even engaged in a discussion on his recently acquired and highly visible moustache. Someone referenced a resemblance to Nigel Mansell, a former Scuderia driver and the 1992 World Champion. “If I was inspired by Mansell? Well, maybe it is! I like Nigel! I think he is a great person and was a Lion in the car. I like old Nige!”

Charles. Then it was Charles Leclerc’s turn, as he was on the panel in the first official press conference of the weekend. Asked to look back at his first race with Scuderia Ferrari in Australia, Charles had this to say: “Of course, it’s something special for a driver, but I didn’t feel under any particular pressure. Actually, here, more than anything I am focussed on performing better than I did in Australia. It was not an easy weekend, as we expected more after the positive outcome of the Barcelona test. I believe our package is strong and we found the answers to our lack of performance in Melbourne, although maybe not all of them. Here we will see if the Australian performance was down to a track specific issue or something else. The team mentality is the right one”, Charles added, “and we must keep it through the year. There is a lot of work to do but I am confident the team will do everything to improve the car. We are all working together as a team and that’s good.”

Free Practice. Now the track will give its verdict with two free practice sessions on Friday starting at 14:00 and 18:00 local time (12:00 and 16:00 CET.)