Fred Vasseur/Ferrari on Verstappen avoiding a penalty: “That’s five places back”

After the second part of the Sprint qualifying session at the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore, the Tifosi were full of hope: Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc in the lead, English superstar Lewis Hamilton in second place. This (in accordance with the Sprint regulations) was achieved on Pirelli’s medium-compound tyres.

However, when the soft tyres were fitted to the cars in the third qualifying segment, Ferrari’s rivals managed to improve their times. Leclerc finished third after all, but Hamilton was only sixth on the grid for Saturday’s short race.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur on the Sprint qualifying session: “It went pretty well; it was a qualifying session with very close times. We were more competitive on the medium tyres than on the softs. We need to work on that for the Grand Prix qualifying. We’ll take it this way: it was useful preparation for tomorrow, when it’s all about the Sprint and then the Grand Prix qualifying.”

“All in all, it didn’t go badly. Charles was in the mix right up to the end, whilst Lewis didn’t manage a perfect lap at the end.”

Charles Leclerc remains in second place on the grid; the race stewards let Max Verstappen off the hook, even though he had overtaken Lewis Hamilton under yellow flags.

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The Ferrari team principal believes Max Verstappen deserved a penalty: “From our point of view, he overtook under yellow flags; as far as I’m concerned, he should be moved back five places.”