Leclerc concerned by 'huge' Ferrari pace deficit to Red Bull

Charles Leclerc has urged Ferrari to work on their "huge" race pace deficit to Red Bull after the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Monegasque had a day to forget at the season-opener, having been forced to retire from third place on Lap 41 due to technical problems.

Max Verstappen went on to take a dominant victory, with teammate Sergio Perez completing a 1-2 for the Red Bull squad.

Leclerc was left feeling "not really confident" after realising that the Scuderia were a second off the pace of the Milton Keynes-based outfit during the event.

Leclerc: Ferrari need to work on race pace deficit

When asked how confident he had felt in the race prior to his retirement, Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365.com: "As confident as I can be being a second of the pace, which is not really confident, to be honest.

"Red Bull seem to have found something really big [in their] race pace.

"In terms of qualifying pace, they are actually pretty similar to us, or at least we managed to extract the lap time yesterday.

"But then we come to the race and we are a second every lap of the pace, which is huge.

"So we really need to work into that, plus the reliability."

Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz finished the race in fourth, taking 12 points for Ferrari.