Charles Leclerc: Singapore Sprint like a lion, P3, stunned by McLaren crash

Monaco’s Charles Leclerc secured six World Championship points for his third place (behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton) in Singapore’s short-format race.

Leclerc battled with his deteriorating intermediate tyres in the final laps of the thoroughly thrilling sprint race, initially against the two McLarens and, right at the very end, against championship leader Kimi Antonelli. But he crossed the line in third place.

Charles said: “From the middle of the sprint onwards, I had a lot of trouble with the tyres. I’d chosen a set-up that proved very good on a wet track, but which made life harder and harder for me as the track dried out.”

“It was difficult to turn in cleanly; I was sliding out over the front axle, which led to excessive tyre wear.”

“I could see the McLarens getting closer and closer. I knew I had to accelerate perfectly out of Turn 5 to avoid leaving myself open to attack. At that point, I was struggling in all the right-hand corners because the left-front tyre was on its last legs.”

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“Then I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the red tail lights of the two McLarens, which had obviously spun! Their misfortune – whatever happened there – was my good fortune.”

“But I still couldn’t be sure of the result, because now I had Kimi Antonelli right on my tail. But it was enough. I’ve rarely been so relieved to see the chequered flag.”

“I’ve got a good set-up from yesterday for the GP qualifying, so I’m not worried about that. But if it gets wet again, I’ll have to come up with something in terms of the set-up.”