Leclerc jokes with Ferrari on final lap of Bahrain GP
Bahrain GP winner Charles Leclerc joked with his Ferrari engineers on the final lap of the race that he had an unexpected engine problem.
The Monaco driver had an impeccable performance in the opening round of F1 in 2022. He and the Ferrari team gave full play to the strong performance of the new car F1-75, not only won the pole position in qualifying, but also won the first corner. Take the lead, block a one-stop attack from world champion Max Verstappen, and start invincible.
After the exit of the safety car due to Pierre Gasly’s burning car, he immediately established a sufficient gap, plus the Red Bull Racing ace drove the car back to the Pit to retire due to a fuel pump failure, Leclerc won the championship in the opening race. It is a sure thing, after all, his teammate Carlos Sainz is too far behind him to attack him at this stage.
However, just as he came to the final lap close to turn 13, he made a radio joke to the team that had lost momentum at the end of the 2019 race and was still lingering in fear of losing momentum. Leclerc laughed after the race. “I made a little joke on the radio on the last lap that the engine was a little weird,” he said.
“I’m sure some of the engineers are going to have a heart attack. But it’s all ok, so yes, we’re happy to bring home the victory this time around.”
The radio exchange between Leclerc and the team is as follows:
Leclerc: The engine is a little weird! (closer to turn 13)
Engineer: Received! (can hear laughter)
Leclerc: I’m kidding!
Engineer: (still laughing) Understood! We had double yellow flags on the main straight and Perez stopped at the first turn.
In the 2019 Bahrain GP, Leclerc was in the lead and suddenly lost some of his power with 10 laps left. His speed dropped sharply and was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes AMG, and finally only won the third place.
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