Will the Ferrari ace inherit pole position for the Singapore Sprint? Here’s what Charles Leclerc has to say

Charles Leclerc demonstrated his pace on the Marina Bay Street Circuit during the second segment of Sprint qualifying. The Ferrari driver set the fastest lap, finishing just under a tenth of a second ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Malaysia race winner Max Verstappen was a full 0.267 seconds off the Monegasque driver’s SQ2 best time.

Will Max Verstappen lose pole position?

However, in the third and decisive segment, the Red Bull Racing star was once again the benchmark: he completed the 4.927 km lap in 1:31.156 minutes, thereby securing pole position. The Dutchman then had to report to the stewards, however, as he faces a penalty for his SQ1 overtaking manoeuvre on Lewis Hamilton under yellow flags.

This could see Leclerc inherit pole position – even though he was only the third-fastest in the final session. This is because the Mercedes driver ranked ahead of him, George Russell, cannot move up the grid; he will be penalised because new engine components have been fitted to his car that exceed the permitted quota. Leclerc admitted after qualifying: “Obviously, third place isn’t a bad position, but on a track like this you really want to start from pole, because overtaking is going to be very difficult.”

Ferrari lacked the pace to challenge for the top spots

Summing up his performance in the sprint qualifying, the 28-year-old said: “I think I eventually managed to set the time we’d hoped for. However, the other drivers followed a slightly different strategy and did two cool-down laps between their fast attempts, whilst I only did one. But to be honest, I don’t think that provides any excuse for the performance. The fact is that we’ve lost a bit of performance in the last few races. We’re simply not fast enough to be in the running for pole position at the moment. But who knows, perhaps with a few minor adjustments after the sprint, we might still have a say at the front when it comes to the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix qualifying.”

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