In a Singapore Grand Prix that was marked by many mistakes made by several drivers, which were put in serious difficulty by the track conditions, as the Marina Bay street circuit never completely dried out after the rain, the stewards were forced to intervene several times with the Virtual Safety Car, in addition to that of the real Safety Car.
The Safety Car entered on two occasions and allowed Charles Leclerc to attempt the attack on Sergio Perez, especially after the second safety car moment, as when both drivers were running on new medium tyres.
In the immediately following laps, the Monegasque was actually right behind the Red Bull car and was even able to use the DRS after a few more minutes, but the layout of the Marina Bay street circuit and the not completely favorable distance between the cars did not allow him to attempt an overtaking move for P1, on a circuit where passing is very difficult even in normal conditions:
“I was quite surprised” – explained the Ferrari driver when asked by Autosport about not being able to attack Sergio Perez – “Because as soon as I lost the DRS I think it was exactly the moment when Checo’s tires started to work properly and unfortunately I lost some control. But before then, everything was really at the limit, with dirty air in conditions like these, the slightest mistake is paid dearly. So I made few mistakes, I was just trying to be as close as possible because I had to overtake on the straight.” – the Monegasque driver explained.
“I couldn’t go into the braking area and brake later because I didn’t know what the track was like on the inside and I didn’t want to take that risk. On one lap I was very close and I thought I’d go inside and brake later, but it wasn’t worth it for me, so I waited for the right opportunity. Unfortunately it did not arrive at the end.” – the Ferrari driver admitted.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
The possibility of attacking Sergio Perez then completely vanished in the last ten laps, the moment of the race in which Charles Leclerc lost ground to his rival. In any case, the Monegasque denied that this gap was generated by the team radio information received from his Ferrari engineer, who informed him that Sergio Perez may receive a grid penalty: “It goes as far as the end” – replied number 16, this time to f1only.fr – “I knew Checo was under investigation, my engineer had told me so I pushed and as soon as he told me that Checo was 5.1 seconds ahead, I had to bring the car to the end. The conditions were really very difficult and, as Carlos said, it is very, very difficult to drive the car and, as Checo also said, mistakes can be very easy to make. So, as soon as I realized that the five second gap was over, I just took the car home.” – Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc concluded.
Leave a Reply