Ferrari in recovery despairs over Q3 mistakes as SF-24 had potential to fight at top | 2024 F1 Singapore GP breakdown. Let's take a detailed look at how events unfolded for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in Singapore.

We have extensively written about what happened to Ferrari in the qualifying session for round 18 of the 2024 Formula 1 season. The Prancing Horse once again “stumbled” on the warm-up cycle of the tires. This was a crucial factor at Marina Bay to access the necessary grip for optimal performance. As a result, Ferrari finds itself starting from ninth and tenth positions on a track where overtaking is quite difficult. The Maranello team will attempt a comeback, with the goal set during this morning’s briefing being to reach the podium.

To achieve this aim, help from rivals will be inevitable. In Singapore, mistakes are always around the corner, as the narrow and winding streets of the circuit, which unfolds in Malaysia, allow no room for error. Ferrari is hoping for at least a couple of Safety Cars, a scenario in which it could capitalize strategically to recover valuable lap time against direct competitors. All that’s left is to get on board with the two Ferraris and see what happens, hoping the race is exciting and full of twists, unlike many other editions where boredom prevailed.

Now let’s take a detailed look at how events unfolded for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in Singapore:

The cars are on the starting grid. The usual recommendations and information are occupying the time of drivers, technicians, and engineers as they wait for the green light. First of all, let’s take a look at the weather conditions: the air temperature is 31.3°C, the asphalt temperature is 76.2°C. Humidity is at 80%, with a wind speed of 0.1 km/h coming from the south. Ferrari chooses to start the Singapore Grand Prix on Medium tires. During the outlap, they take the best possible care of warming up the tires. The formation lap is very slow, a factor that undoubtedly doesn’t help the tires.

The start is a bit chaotic, and the Spaniard in the red car fails to optimize the start. Sainz is forced to take the escape route on the outside of turn 1, and then gets entangled in a duel with Tsunoda’s Racing Bull, also losing position to Perez. Leclerc, on the other hand, takes advantage of the situation and gains two positions. Three laps in, and the race is faster than it seems. Adami points out that the race leader, Norris, is not managing the car but is instead pushing. The goal is to create a gap with Verstappen. Carlos asks for and gets a change to the braking system to improve the situation.

Both Ferrari drivers are also instructed to perform a certain amount of lift and coast, a necessary move to better manage the operating temperatures of the SF-24s. At this point, it is communicated that the strategy is following “Plan A,” which probably means extending the first stint as much as possible. The tires are ready by lap 7. This means they can start pushing, as the operating temperatures are properly adjusted on all axes of the car. As expected, overtaking is incredibly difficult.

The usual “DRS train” makes it difficult and also complicates temperature management. By lap 10, there’s the first tire phase update of the race. Fortunately, the brake issue seems to have been resolved. Adami informs the Spaniard of this. Tsunoda is still ahead of Carlos but is starting to struggle a lot with his rear tires. He confirms this on the radio, calling his car “rear limited.” For this reason, Sainz tries to be more aggressive in attacking the Japanese driver. However, the move is complicated, as the brakes overheat again whenever he gets close.

Ferrari then decides to pit early and attempt an undercut on Yuki. The stop isn’t very fast, though. The Spaniard returns to the track behind Bottas, in 18th position, with a bit of free air. It remains to be seen whether the move will pay off. Meanwhile, Leclerc is still closely following Alonso, who in turn is glued to Hulkenberg’s rear. The Monegasque is trying to make the most of the K1 plus overboost, but for now, the extra power offered by the hybrid system hasn’t helped. He too is forced to manage the brakes in this constant back-and-forth battle.

Sainz has now caught up to Bottas, let’s see what happens. Adami suggests switching to Soc 7 mode to maximize the use of K1 Plus. The move works because the Spaniard easily passes the former Mercedes driver. Same story for Zhou. Next target: Lance Stroll. Back to Charles, we can say that the Ferrari driver is “going crazy” behind Alonso. The Monegasque hasn’t stopped yet, and he’s asked for the second tire update. Then, a lap later, he’s called to the pits to try the undercut on Fernando, but the move is canceled five corners later.

Meanwhile, Sainz passes Stroll and can once again take advantage of the clear track ahead. Charles is extremely frustrated at this moment and makes it known on the radio. Bozzi tries to calm him down as much as possible. After all, car number 16 would have great pace compared to the cars ahead, but there’s nothing he can do to change the situation. Bryan tries to encourage him and also asks for a mapping change to better handle turns 3 and 9. For the Spaniard, however, the tire situation is more delicate. Having pitted very early, his priority is to manage the tires as best as possible.

Lap 25, and the positions on track haven’t changed: Leclerc is in 7th place, Sainz is in 15th. Alonso finally “gets out of the way.” The Monegasque now has the chance to attack Hulkenberg’s Haas. Bozzi informs him that the medium tires are performing best in the race. The Ferrari driver is now on Hulkenberg’s tail and will soon attempt an overtake. Said and done, in sector 3, Charles gains another position. Clear air ahead of him, finally. “Let’s push” is the message over the radio, as he sets off in pursuit of Piastri.

The Monegasque is the fastest driver on track at the moment, trying to make up for all the lost time. The Ferrari driver is now behind Verstappen, who has already pitted. Bozzi informs him that these laps are crucial for the outcome, congratulates him, and asks him to keep pushing like this. The pit wall also wants to know if he will be able to maintain this pace for another three laps. The Ferrari driver responds affirmatively, although he’s starting to struggle quite a bit with his yellow-banded Pirellis, which now have 35 laps on them.

There is good news for Sainz, as his strategy has worked against several drivers, putting them behind him. On lap 35, he is in eighth place. The pit wall calls Charles in on lap 37. The goal is to come out ahead of Hulkenberg, and indeed, that’s what happens. Ferrari number 16 is in eighth place, still behind Alonso, though. If Carlos doesn’t make any more stops as expected, his strategy will have been very good. The Monegasque, however, doesn’t seem too satisfied, as his tone on the radio suggests.

Sainz is ahead in sixth place, despite starting behind and losing some positions at the beginning of the race. Adami confirms that the plan is to go to the end. For this reason, he suggests continuing to manage the tires: be careful with traction and don’t carry too much speed into certain corners. Meanwhile, Leclerc catches up to Alonso and easily passes him in acceleration in sector 2. A great move. He is now 4 seconds behind his teammate, whom he will likely catch quickly.

It takes only two laps to catch his teammate, who, in agreement with the team, lets him pass by lifting off before turn 16. With 20 laps to go, Carlos just needs to maintain seventh place. For Leclerc, the goal is to catch Hamilton. According to the pit wall’s calculations, keeping the current pace, he could do it by the end of the race. They discuss strategy for car number 55, as Sainz doubts he can make it to the finish. Pitting now would mean losing four positions, which he would have to recover on track.

However, for now, the Spaniard comfortably maintains a gap of just over 4 seconds from Fernando’s Aston Martin. The other option would be to pit towards the end, switching to Softs, perhaps taking advantage of a Safety Car. Meanwhile, Charles is flying, clearly the fastest car on track. Bozzi urges him to keep going, although he should be more careful in traction zones. Lap 50: Leclerc is 3 seconds behind Lewis, who is struggling more than expected, significantly slower than his teammate.

The Ferrari is flying and easily passes his future teammate. Next target: George Russell, who is 7 seconds ahead with 11 laps to go. The target is tough, though, as although car number 16 has 9 fewer laps on the tires, with each lap the compounds on Charles’ car are increasingly stressed due to this comeback. Bozzi provides updates on Norris, which irritates Leclerc, as he considers this info completely useless. And indeed, he’s right; the only thing that matters now is lap time and the gap to Russell.

Meanwhile, Alonso is closing in on Carlos. The gap between the two Spaniards is now 3 seconds. Leclerc continues pushing furiously and, with 5 laps to go, “enters” Russell’s DRS zone. This means he can attempt an attack on the British Mercedes driver. However, the Brit is lucky as a lapped car ahead of him is helping with the slipstream. Charles is trying to close in, but Russell’s Mercedes has very good top speeds.

The Monegasque can’t make it and has to settle for 5th place. Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, holds off Fernando Alonso and finishes seventh. For once, the Singapore race wasn’t marked by the slow pace of the race leader managing tires. This certainly helped Ferrari’s comeback in the second half of the race. A good strategy for Carlos Sainz helped him recover the positions lost at the start. Same for Charles, with an efficient tactic that allowed him to push hard. However, Q3 is the deciding factor because this Ferrari car could have fought for the top in Singapore.

— see video above —