Ferrari remains unbeaten in pit lane after the opening three races

Ferrari has endured a very difficult start to the season, having suffered two disqualifications and struggled for pure pace in all conditions. However, the Maranello-based outfit has been inch-perfect and immensely quick in the pit lane as it set the quickest pit stop in all three races,

Charles Leclerc endured a tough start to the Suzuka weekend, but he managed to improve his car balance for Saturday’s qualifying to at least qualify fourth on the grid for the 53-lap Japanese Grand Prix.

The Monegasque had an ordinary start to maintain his starting position, and although he needed to fend off a feisty George Russell in the opening laps, he managed to stay ahead after the only round of pit stops thanks to a perfect timing from Ferrari. The eight-time grand prix winner then held on to P4, but he was constantly three tenth per lap slower than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton had to work a little more after starting on the hard compound tyre. He looked very comfortable in the dying stages of his first stint, constantly posting personal best lap times despite his ageing tyres.

However, he encountered unexpected difficulties on the medium tyres. While his initial laps were very encouraging, he was then unable to find the pace to chase down Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and lost connection to his Mercedes replacement as the second stint progressed.

The Scuderia required only 2.18s to replace Hamilton’s hard tyres with a set of new mediums during the Briton’s sole pit stop. The Scuderia’s pit stop with Leclerc took only 2.4s which became the fifth quickest pit stop.

McLaren did not only collect a double podium finish in Bahrain, but they set the second quickest tyre service (2.19s), from Mercedes (2.26s) in third.

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