Ferrari are back: Formula 1 giants relish return to the front after Charles Leclerc's Bahrain GP pole
Ferrari on pole for Bahrain GP with Charles Leclerc ahead of Max Verstappen and team-mate Carlos Sainz; Watch season-opening race live on Sky Sports F1 at 3pm on Sunday, with extensive build-up from 1.30pm
Sunday 20 March 2022 15:21, UK
Ferrari hope their superb pole position for the season-opening Bahrain GP is a sign of things to come as the Formula 1 giants relish a return to the front.
The Scuderia, F1's most successful and historic team, underlined the potential of their 2022 car with a surprise pole on Saturday, with Charles Leclerc pipping Red Bull's Max Verstappen and team-mate Carlos Sainz.
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Ferrari are without a title since 2008 and have languished in the midfield for the past two seasons but Saturday's form was a clear sign that their focus on this season's new era has paid off.
"Expectations are there, we created them!" team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports F1. "But that's Ferrari.
"I think everybody has been waiting for us. After those difficult seasons, we have pushed a lot, we worked very hard back at the factory.
"I know tomorrow can be even tougher, but at least qualifying is showing the car is performing well. The season is long but we want to be part of it."
He added: "I think it is great for us, it is great to be there.
"I think today, that is our best. We pushed as much as we could. I think to extract the maximum potential of both cars, still, it will take three or four races maybe to develop the real car."
World champion Verstappen, who battled Ferrari throughout qualifying with Mercedes absence from the front, called their resurgence "nice" and stated: "They did a really good job over the winter and hopefully it's going to be an exciting race."
Sunday's race starts at 3pm on Sky Sports F1, with build-up live from 1.30pm.
Leclerc eventually beat Verstappen by a tenth of a second. While he had two poles last year, they were largely track-specific and it appears the talented Monegasque may now have a car to contend at the front consistently.
"It feels good," he said. "The last two years have been incredibly difficult for the team. We were quite hopeful that this new opportunity for us was an opportunity to be back in the front and I think we have worked extremely well as a team to find ourselves again in a position to fight for better places.
And Leclerc believes there's more to come. Asked if there was room for improvement, he said: "Of course. Also from the driving point of view, it's completely different to last year.
"Testing was useful for this - I've tried many different driving styles and still need to find the perfect one, so there's definitely much to come, hopefully, from us."
