Charles Leclerc/Ferrari on Verstappen: “I should have done that differently”

Charles Leclerc missed out on his first victory at the Singapore Grand Prix by 7.3 seconds: under the floodlights of the Marina Bay Circuit, the Ferrari driver finished second (as in 2019 and 2022), behind Max Verstappen and ahead of Kimi Antonelli.

For the 28-year-old Leclerc, this is the 55th podium finish of his Formula 1 career. The Monegasque driver missed out on his tenth Grand Prix victory by more than seven seconds. Ferrari’s strategy of an extra pit stop was the right move to close in on leader Verstappen, but the Dutchman still had reserves left.

Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, was left on the track and fell back, which shows that Ferrari’s strategy with Leclerc was the right one.

After the uneventful night-time race in the Asian city-state, Leclerc said: “We were quite strong at the start of the race; I was able to stay on Max’s tail. But then our tyres degraded more rapidly than the ones on Verstappen’s car.”

“We then tried a different strategy during the virtual safety car phase to perhaps give ourselves a chance against Max. I was convinced we could pull it off.”

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“I went all out on fresh tyres; perhaps I paid dearly for that towards the end of the Grand Prix. I gave it my all, and it just wasn’t meant to be.”

“Perhaps I should have been a bit more aggressive against Max at the start, but apart from that I can’t really blame myself for much.”

“We had solid race pace today, but to win we need further improvements to the car.”