Ferrari’s Singapore Grand Prix confirmed that the SF-26 has moved closer to the front, but also showed how much ground still needs to be made up to Red Bull. Charles Leclerc finished second after fighting Max Verstappen during the early stages of the race, showing encouraging pace particularly in the opening stint before tyre degradation began to affect his performance.
Despite returning to the podium, Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari still has work to do before it can consistently match the level of Red Bull and Mercedes, which remain the benchmarks this season. The result nevertheless offered another encouraging sign after recent improvements to the car.
Strong early pace before tyre degradation changes the race
Charles Leclerc was one of the main protagonists during the opening phase of the Singapore Grand Prix as he attempted to stay within reach of Max Verstappen. For several laps, the Ferrari driver appeared capable of applying pressure, with his early-race pace looking particularly encouraging before degradation began to influence the balance of the contest.
“We were quite strong at the beginning of the race, then we started degrading a little more in the first stint,” Charles Leclerc explained.
The Safety Car subsequently opened up different strategic possibilities, with Ferrari and Red Bull taking different approaches to managing the remainder of the race. The complete compound and stint picture can be explored through the F1 Tyre & Stint Analysis.
In the final phase, Charles Leclerc attempted to use every opportunity available by switching to the Soft compound and attacking aggressively: “I believed until the end, but I pushed very hard at the beginning of the final stint and then I degraded a little more than the others.”
Despite the result, the Monegasque was not left with significant regrets about how he approached the race: “I gave everything and I don’t regret anything. I don’t think there was much more to do today, apart from perhaps being a little more aggressive at the start.”
Ferrari updates help, but Charles Leclerc says more is still needed
Although the race showed Ferrari operating closer to the leading teams than during some previous weekends, Charles Leclerc does not believe the overall competitive picture has fundamentally changed.
Asked whether he still feels Ferrari remains some distance from the front, his answer was direct: “Yes, I still feel that way.”
That assessment remains unchanged despite the podium and an overall positive performance. At the same time, Charles Leclerc acknowledged encouraging signs from Ferrari’s latest developments, even if the gains have so far been relatively limited: “We brought some small new parts to the car, which perhaps helped us take another step forward.”
The progress follows continued work on the SF-26, with further technical coverage available in the Ferrari technical analysis section.
Charles Leclerc views the improvement as useful, but not yet sufficient to eliminate the gap to the teams leading the championship. Red Bull in particular has looked increasingly strong and complete over recent weekends.
“It’s not a huge push all the way to the end and we still need to bring some new things to the car to be at that level,” he added, indicating that Ferrari still has further areas of development to address.
Ferrari takes encouragement from Singapore progress
Despite the remaining deficit, the overall assessment of Ferrari’s Singapore weekend was positive: “I think today we had good overall pace.”
That is a sign the Scuderia will hope to confirm over the coming weekends. After a period in which Ferrari appeared to lack the performance required to regularly challenge for podiums, the results achieved in Malaysia and Singapore have provided encouraging evidence of progress in both dry and wet conditions.
Further updates on the Monegasque’s season and Ferrari’s development programme can be followed in the Charles Leclerc news section.
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