Damon Hill ‘worried’ by what Charles Leclerc did during Bahrain Grand Prix

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Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc needs to take more ‘responsibility’ for his team’s strategy calls, Damon Hill says.

Leclerc used an extra set of soft compound tyres during the first qualifying session on Friday, which meant he only had one new set for Q3.

1996 F1 world champion Hill feels that the 26-year-old should have challenged the team on this decision.

The Monegasque driver said he ‘didn’t agree’ with the call over team radio but by then Red Bull’s advantage had been cemented.

Max Verstappen was able to run twice on fresh tyres in the pole position shoot-out, and he beat Leclerc to top spot by just over two tenths of a second.

To add to the frustration, Leclerc had set a time good enough for pole during Q2.

The five-time race winner would then drop back to fourth place during Saturday’s race as he wrestled brake issues.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and teammate Carlos Sainz were able to get past, though Leclerc did prevail in a battle with the Mercedes of George Russell.

Damon Hill says Charles Leclerc ‘waiting for it to be served up’

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Hill said he’d noticed a recurring theme in Ferrari’s strategy calls on Leclerc’s side of the garage.

He says that Sainz has been more ‘savvy’ and assertive, and urged Leclerc to show a greater willingness to criticise the team.

“This worries me,” he said (30:35). “I see this a lot from Ferrari and Charles has to take control of this.

“This is where it seems to me that Carlos is a little bit more savvy in that he’s aware of what’s going on and he takes responsibility for things and challenges the team, whereas Charles seems to be waiting for it to be served up.

“And when then they serve up the wrong thing, all he can do is say ‘you served up the wrong thing’. His loyalty to the team is such that he doesn’t want to criticise them.”

Leclerc told he can challenge for third place

Leclerc endured a ‘mare’ of a race, in the words of Hill, but he can at least take heart from the potential Ferrari showed on both days.

In addition to setting the quickest lap time in qualifying, they cemented their status as Red Bull’s nearest challengers with Sainz’s podium finish on Saturday.

Verstappen himself has predicted that Leclerc will finish third in the championship this year, and that spot certainly seems up to be grabs.