A solid Sprint Saturday for Ferrari
A podium is still a podium, even if in a Sprint Race it is undeniably worth less, at least in terms of the points available. The 100-kilometre race at Marina Bay was nevertheless something of a rollercoaster for Charles Leclerc, who could at least smile after securing the third step of the Sprint podium at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc found himself fourth at the start behind Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who produced a superb launch. The Monegasque then moved into third following George Russell’s accident before being forced to defend the position all the way to the chequered flag as his tyre performance collapsed dramatically in the closing laps.
Charles Leclerc reacts to Lewis Hamilton’s explosive start
“Luckily my rivals didn’t have a horn, because if they had, I definitely would have heard it, they were that close!” Charles Leclerc told Canal+ after the chequered flag.
“At the start, Lewis came from my left like a rocket, and at that moment I thought it was a McLaren. Then, on the first lap, the performance was quite good and I felt fairly comfortable with the car, and there was George’s accident on the straight, which made things a little difficult for me because it happened right in the middle of the track.”
The opening metres underlined the contrasting fortunes of Ferrari’s two drivers during the Sprint, with Lewis Hamilton immediately gaining ground while Charles Leclerc was forced into a defensive race. The different ways in which the SF-26 behaves around Marina Bay are particularly significant on a circuit that places a heavy premium on braking stability, traction and tyre-temperature control, as illustrated by the Marina Bay circuit characteristics facing Ferrari.
Ferrari ran very different set-ups on Hamilton and Leclerc’s cars
Charles Leclerc also revealed that Ferrari had chosen unusually different configurations for its two cars during the Singapore Sprint.
“Today we had two extremely different cars with Hamilton, which usually doesn’t happen because normally we are very similar in terms of set-up. In the first few kilometres I felt good and I was trying to look after the tyres, but honestly we had enormous understeer from the third or fourth lap onwards and the fronts started overheating massively. I really struggled to find a solution to that problem.”
The tyre issue became increasingly important as the Sprint developed, leaving Charles Leclerc with far less performance available in the final laps and forcing him to focus on protecting third place rather than attacking the cars ahead.
Leclerc could change Ferrari set-up before qualifying
With parc fermé reopened ahead of qualifying, changes to Charles Leclerc’s SF-26 cannot therefore be ruled out. The Ferrari driver believes the team may have committed too heavily to a low set-up that works better when the Marina Bay circuit remains dry.
“I think that so far this weekend we have had a set-up that is a little too low, which works if the track is dry, but which will lead us to change our approach if it rains again.”
The comments leave Ferrari with an important decision ahead of qualifying: whether to retain an approach optimised towards dry conditions or make the SF-26 more adaptable should further rain hit Singapore. The contrasting configurations used by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could also give the team valuable comparative data before choosing its final direction.
For a broader comparison of how the two Ferrari drivers are performing across qualifying and race sessions, the season-long Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton head-to-head statistics provide the wider context behind their internal battle.
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