Charles Leclerc claimed his first podium since the summer break with second place at the Singapore Grand Prix, following Lewis Hamilton’s podium at Sepang. The Monegasque produced a strong performance, challenging Max Verstappen for the lead at the start before Ferrari ultimately lacked the race pace to defeat Red Bull.
Charles Leclerc still attempted to make life difficult for Max Verstappen later in the race, taking advantage of the Virtual Safety Car triggered by Lance Stroll’s retirement to launch an aggressive final stint on Soft tyres. However, the Ferrari driver accepted that his rival had slightly more performance and is now waiting to see whether the next SF-26 updates can make the car a consistent podium contender over the closing races of the season.
Charles Leclerc explains Singapore GP start battle with Max Verstappen
Reflecting on his race, Charles Leclerc admitted that second place was probably the maximum available against Max Verstappen.
“I’m happy, but not extremely happy. I think second place is a good result, especially considering the trend we’ve had lately where we were just missing that little bit of pace. I feel that, at least yesterday in qualifying, we had solid pace. Today in the race Max had a little bit more than us, which was predictable, but we were perhaps also a little closer than we expected. It was a good race: I believed until the end, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
The decisive moment in the fight came immediately after the lights went out, during the first 200 metres towards Turn 1. Charles Leclerc made the stronger launch and briefly looked capable of taking the lead, as shown in the opening Singapore GP battle between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
“You don’t have much time to think in those moments. I just saw that Max had a slightly difficult start. I released the clutch well and got alongside him. Then the space ran out, but in his position I would have done exactly the same thing. After that it became quite complicated: I was on the left, slightly behind him, and I couldn’t see the light panels on the right. You lose all your references because normally the braking points are on the right. I tried to judge the braking as well as possible, but Max managed to keep first place.”
Leclerc reveals missed battery opportunity in opening laps
Charles Leclerc also revealed that Max Verstappen’s early technical issue may have presented Ferrari with an opportunity that he did not immediately recognise.
“There were a couple of opportunities in the first three laps when Max had that deployment problem, but I always thought it was an isolated episode, so I didn’t really use my battery, and that was perhaps a mistake. By the time I realised he had no power at the end of the straight, it was already too late to use my charge. I don’t know if it would have changed much: it certainly would have helped in the first stint, but I think in the end they simply had too much pace for us.”
The tyre and stint differences behind those strategic decisions can be explored through the F1 Tyre & Stint Analysis.
Why Charles Leclerc rejected a different starting tyre
Charles Leclerc also dismissed the idea that Ferrari would have been better served by starting him on a different compound, particularly the Medium tyre that did not work effectively for Lewis Hamilton.
“I don’t think starting on a different tyre would have helped. In fact, it probably would have been worse because the Medium didn’t seem like a great tyre. I probably would have lost any flexibility to put Max under pressure around the pit stop, even though he was already far ahead. I think on the Mediums he would have been even further away.”
Ferrari manages Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton without losing time
Charles Leclerc also explained the internal team management when he passed Lewis Hamilton after the second pit stop. The two Ferrari drivers were on very different strategies, with the Monegasque arriving on significantly fresher tyres while still attempting to chase Max Verstappen.
“We were on very different strategies and I arrived behind him with a much fresher tyre. At that point it made perfect sense not to lose time between ourselves, because I was still chasing Max to try to win the race. Even though it was a difficult mission, we had to play every card we had. I didn’t think too much about it: I had a clear tyre advantage and Lewis didn’t make life difficult for me, because it was obviously in the team’s interest not to lose valuable time.”
The result marked Charles Leclerc’s first podium since the summer break, offering Ferrari encouragement after several more difficult weekends. The podium also followed a weekend in which rear-end changes helped the SF-26 make a significant step at Singapore.
Charles Leclerc waits for next SF-26 upgrade test
Despite the improved result, Charles Leclerc urged caution before declaring that Ferrari had permanently returned to the performance window required to fight for the podium at every Grand Prix.
“It’s still too early to say whether the car is consistently back in the ideal window to fight for the podium at every race. It’s true that we’ve brought small updates here and there on the car, and that may have helped us take a step forward. But we mustn’t forget the trend of the previous three races, where we were losing a bit of ground compared with Red Bull, Mercedes and also McLaren, even though they struggled a little more at Sepang and here. In the end, it all comes down to who brings the updates as early as possible: I hope we’ll be the ones to make the biggest step compared with the others with the next developments.”
Ferrari will therefore look to the next round of updates as an important indication of whether the progress seen at Marina Bay can be sustained. Further coverage of the Monegasque’s season and the SF-26 development programme is available in the Charles Leclerc news section.
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