Charles Leclerc says working on turning his previous mental “weakness” into a strength helped him overcome the disappointment of missing out on his 𝔉first Formula 1 victory in Bahr🅺ain.

Leclerc looked set to convert his maiden F1 pole position into the win having domi𒉰nated the Bahrain Grand Prix, before late engine issues cruelly robbed him of the chance to take his first victory.

He ultimately finished third after being overtaken by the𒉰 Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages as he limped home in 🦩his ailing Ferrari.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, Leclerc admitted that he had struggဣled to handle the mental effects racing can have on a driver during the early years of his career but added he worked hard to turn things around to ready himself for his F1 debut in 2018.

“I think in the end my mental strength was definitely a weakness back in the karting days and I’ve worked hard on that to be as ready as pꦑossible for whenever I had the chance in F1,” Leclerc explained.

“I feel ඣlike now it’s probably my strength and I am very happy to have worked so hard on this. It was actu🍒ally not so hard.

“Obviously Sunday it was more of a di༺sappointing moment, so it is always harder in these times but overall it happens, and if anytime we have an issue we finish third we should be happy.”

The 21-year-old Monegasque believes focusing on mental training has better helped ♉him “discover” himself and has ultimately enabled him to control his emotions easier.

“It’s very difficult to explain, because you train with se♒nsorℱs on your head which tells you what is happening in your head,” he said.

“So it is pretty difficult to explain into words but basically you train in front▨ of a computer and you try to und🎉erstand what is happening in your head.

“I was pretty 𝕴confident before what was happening but I was actually not understanding anythin💃g about what was happening.

“Yoಌu just discover yo🐷urself and manage to control yourself a lot better.”