Ferrari’s weekend in Singapore can be summed up with the perfect expression to describe the entire 2024 season for the Scuderia: full of highs and lows.
A weekend of highs and lows
On Friday, the high expectations seemed to be confirmed by the performance of the SF-24, but then it regressed on Saturday.
Already in Free Practice 3, the car seemed to have lost its initial sparkle, but the qualifying session was extremely negative: Carlos Sainz hit the barriers on his out lap, while Charles Leclerc made a mistake (caused by tires that were too cold), which led him to exceed the track limits.
The result? From the possibility of starting on the front row, both Ferraris found themselves having to start from fifth. And the race inevitably suffered from this.
A great missed opportunity
The Marina Bay street circuit is well known for not favoring overtaking, and the Maranello team quickly realized this. The only way to climb back up was to differentiate the strategy, not only between the two Ferrari drivers but especially compared to the rivals: Carlos Sainz pitted early, while Charles Leclerc delayed his stop as much as possible.
Thanks to this different race interpretation, the two Ferrari SF-24 cars climbed up to fifth and seventh positions; but the pace was for a win, or at least a podium in the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay street circuit.
The graph below shows the lap times of Charles Leclerc (red line) in his stint on hard tires, compared to those of Verstappen (blue line) and Norris (orange line).
The telemetry confirms it
What can be inferred from it? Simply this conclusion: Charles Leclerc’s pace was on average a few thousandths faster than his rivals. Clearly, all variables must be considered: Charles Leclerc had to make several overtakes, which undoubtedly slowed him down, but he also had fresher, more competitive tires, as they were less worn. So, we can say that these two factors balanced each other out, creating a more even comparison.
In short, whether it’s a matter of milliseconds or not, one thing is certain: Ferrari would have had the chance to fight for the win if “only” they had started from pole position, or at least from the front row. Instead, for one reason or another, due to one mistake or another, the opportunity to triumph in Singapore was not seized. How many more will there be from now until the end of the season? We’ll just have to wait and see.
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