Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto congratulated Charles Leclerc on his maiden Formula 1 pole position in only his second race for the Italian outfit.
Leclerc outpaced team-mate Sebastian Vettel by almost three-tenths to claim pole for the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix in a Ferrari 1-2 on the back of a poor showing in Melbourne, which has filled Binotto with confidence ahead of Sunday's race.
"I’m happy, happy for today certainly, happy after Australia, we’ve been focusing on ourselves. We work hard, we understand the issues. I think the result of today certainly will give us confidence," said Binotto.
"I will not go into details [on what was changed]. I think what has been important is that the team has been very united, concentrated, we worked together, so it’s all of the team, I’m very happy it’s a good team, it’s a great team, thanks to them."
Turning his praise to his drivers, Binotto congratulated Leclerc on his achievement and described F1's second-youngest pole sitter – Vettel being the youngest – as a "good kid".
"Well at first I’m very happy for Ferrari, for Charles as well, the first pole is important," he added. "I think the pace was good but very tough, we knew that it will be tough today with Mercedes, they are just behind us.
"He’s a good kid, and being a good kid I think we all love him but as well we love Sebastian, so I think it’s great for the team, it’s great for him, and it won't be the last one."
with Ferrari's attention now turned to Sunday, Binotto isn't getting carried away despite looking in good form: "I think the race tomorrow will be very difficult. I think we need to focus on ourselves. Remain concentrated as it's still a very long way to the chequered flag so I think the result of today is good but we know it’s not giving any points."
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