After the Italian Grand Prix, the hopes of Ferrari fans to be in the fight for the Constructors’ Championship were still alive, but after the Singapore Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc seems less convinced that Ferrari is in the running for victory. However, luck could play a crucial role, according to the Monegasque driver.
The Maranello team is currently in third place in the Constructors’ Championship, 34 points behind a struggling Red Bull and a massive 75 points behind McLaren, who are comfortably leading.
In the post-race interview after the Singapore Grand Prix at the 4.94-kilometre Marina Bay Street Circuit, where Charles Leclerc finished fifth, the Ferrari driver said it’s “possible” to win the Constructors’ Championship, but the Italian team’s race pace will not be enough.
Charles Leclerc stated: “If we can be consistent and avoid mistakes, by the end of the season we could still be very close to McLaren.”
Ferrari is, however, worried about McLaren’s performances; at the beginning of the year, stopping the Red Bull- Max Verstappen dominance seemed impossible. Yet, the British team has managed to develop a car that not only dethroned Verstappen but also challenged the entire Red Bull team.
Charles Leclerc explained: “It’s not right to delude ourselves. McLaren is currently the team with the best car, but that could change. We have to capitalize on their potential mistakes, and if they lower their guard, we must be ready to seize the opportunity. As much as the last two races were good, I think we’ve always been saying we need to be careful to not have wrong expectations because McLaren still have a better car than us, like quite a bit. We have some tracks that will be very close, some others where we’ll be further away. Before this race we were quite close and we never really had the fastest car apart from maybe Monaco, and in Monza we were quite strong as well.”
According to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, as has been the case so far, there will still be circuits where victory is possible, and others where beating McLaren will be very difficult.
His Maranello teammate, Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr, also described a possible McLaren crisis as “possible” but “very difficult.”
Securing second place from Red Bull seems the most “realistic” goal, but Charles Leclerc is not willing to give up so easily. He still believes in a possible turnaround in both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships and hopes for a helping hand from Lady Luck.
