Nico Rosberg Fears Ferrari Have Not Rectified Previous Mistakes; Says Charles Leclerc Call Was ‘Very Odd’

2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg was left baffled after Ferrari decided to sacrifice qualifying on Saturday. They did so with the hope that it will help them to make better strategy calls for the Bahrain Grand Prix main race.

The German’s concerns emerged after Ferrari did not send out Charles Leclerc for a second lap in Q3. Thereby leaving his position to be decided on the grid by just the one lap he put in.

While Leclerc was fortunate that he still managed to secure P3, Ferrari’s call did help Red Bull Racing to lock out the front row.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen qualified on the pole with a cracking 1:29.708. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez qualified in second with a 1:29.846.

Nico Rosberg hopes Ferrari’s bold strategy does not hurt them

While speaking to Sky Sports F1 after an enthralling Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday, Nico Rosberg expressed his concerns with Ferrari’s audacious strategy call.

“It’s a very odd one. I hope it’s not kind of the continuation of Ferrari strategy difficulties,” he explained. The 37-year-old ended his remarks by stating that he hopes Ferrari’s call does not come back to haunt them.

 

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Naomi Schiff, who joined Rosberg on the program, too echoed similar concerns to that of the 2016 F1 champion.

She said that since the Bahrain GP is the first race, teams will be keen to evaluate the full potential of the car and in which areas they lack.

She added that the sole reason why the Prancing Horse made this call was that they believe that they do not have as much race pace as Red Bull Racing does.

Hence, such a strategy would provide them with an extra set of tyres to minimize the difference. However, she too added that she was not sure how much such a call would help them.

Also Read: Charles Leclerc Gives Bizarre Response to Max Verstappen’s Sandbagging Accusations at Ferrari

Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying highlights

Red Bull Racing continued from where they left off last season as they dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying session. Max Verstappen qualified on the pole with his teammate, Sergio Perez, in second.

Despite the ‘strange’ call from Ferrari, they managed to lock out the second row with Charles Leclerc in third and Carlos Sainz in fourth.

Aston Martin seemed to live up to their hype as Fernando Alonso qualified fifth on the grid. Lance Stroll too seemed comfortable with the car as he qualified in eighth after battling through the injuries he suffered as a result of his bike accident.

Meanwhile, Mercedes still seem to have some work to do as they were over half a second down as compared to the benchmark time set by Verstappen. George Russell qualified sixth while Lewis Hamilton qualified seventh.

Further down, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon qualified in ninth, with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg rounding up the top 10. Meanwhile, the qualifying spots of the rest of the grid are mentioned below:

11) Lando Norris (McLaren)

12) Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo Racing)

13) Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo Racing)

14) Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

15) Alexander Albon (Williams)

16) Logan Sargeant (Williams)

17) Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

18) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

19) Nyck De Vries (AlphaTauri)

20) Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

Also Read: Max Verstappen Snubs Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc In Hopes of New Rivalry on F1 Grid