Six thousandths. A minimal gap, practically non-existent, the one that separated Carlos Sainz from the front row. In fact, the Spaniard closed the first qualifying of the year in Bahrain in third place, behind Max Verstappen and teammate Leclerc who opened the front row.
A Ferrari that is there in any case and responds super present to what the expectations were. Sainz had declared yesterday that he would use Friday evening to study and understand how to get the most out of his F1-75. The results, for now, are undoubtedly incredible but it's better to wait until tomorrow, with the most important event, which is called the race.
The Spanish rider believes it, and is satisfied with the excellent result obtained, declaring at the end of qualifying:
"Clearly Charles managed to do something more than me and extract the maximum potential from the car Sainz explained. but I'm very happy with the progress I've made over the weekend. I was a long way away and I had suffered a lot in figuring out how to drive this single-seater".
An improvement that was made during the weekend by the Red: "I was even more than half a second behind from the start of the weekend and being in the fight for pole today was great news for me”.
Third place which is worth a lot, especially if you think of the other years, even if Sainz, in the front row, was hoping for it: “I wasn't able to pull off that last tenth and it's a shame, but in the end Charles deserved it. He was up front all weekend and the team did a great job."
