Listen to this article The Monegasque driver drove impeccably at F1’s season opener as his Ferrari team exploited the strong performance of its new F1-75 car. Having taken pole position at Sakhir and led from the start, Leclerc held off a mid-race attack from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to slowly start to edge clear at the front. He then made the perfect restart from a late safety car period, triggered by Pierre Gasly’s fiery exit, to again build up a small margin. When his Dutch rival was hit by a fuel pump failure a few laps later and forced to retire in the pits, Leclerc’s run for victory was all but guaranteed as he was left well clear of his teammate Carlos Sainz. However, approaching Turn 13 on the final lap, and with memories of his own late retirement in 2019 still etched in his team’s head, Leclerc gave a cheeky radio message to his team. Read Also: “I did a bit of a joke on the radio on the last lap, saying that there was something strange with the engine,” smiled Leclerc after the race. “It gave a h …