Leclerc opens up on Ferrari's enormous mistake after disastrous qualifying at Singapore
Having displayed impressive pace across the opening qualifying sessions, Charles Leclerc finished down in P9, with the Monegasque indicating that Ferrari made a huge mistake with tyre preparation.
The opening day of the Singapore Grand Prix saw Charles Leclerc set the pace, with him and McLaren rival Lando Norris enjoying a healthy margin over the rest of the field.
The final practice on Saturday turned out to be a tough session for the Monegasque as he struggled for grip on the soft tyres.
However, he found more harmony with his SF-24 in qualifying, and was in contention for a spot at the sharp end of the field. But a mistake from Ferrari meant that he started his crucial final lap with cool tyres, and was unable to put a lap together.
Asked to comment on his qualifying, the seven-time F1 race winner said: "Q1, Q2 was going well, I was kind of hopeful again after FP3 that went wrong.But then I got out of the box in Q3 and the front tyres were way cooler.
"We do so much preparation all the weekend to get to this one lap in quali, where we know it's as important as Monaco, and we get out of the box and we are way too cold on the front tyres. And that puts all of our weekend into a very bad place.
"We don't know the exact issue yet, but fact is we started the lap with two cold front tyres, locked up into Turn 1 and that was it. I never really had the front grip I wanted."
The Ferrari driver sounded a very disheartened note as he had expected to qualify well on a track where the Scuderia usually excells.
"[Even after FP3] we were expecting to have a strong quali, which in Q1 and Q2 did confirm that we were on the pace to do a good thing. And then we threw everything in the bin with the Q3 tyre temperature issue. We've got to investigate that.
"It’s a shame because this puts us on the back foot for the race, so we have to keep our expectations realistic, as to what might be possible."
His team-mate Carlos Sainz looked fairly competitive during qualifying, and was in contention for a top place.
However, he made a mistake on the warm-up lap for his penultimate flying tour, applying too much throttle into the last turn.
As a result of his aggressive throttle application, he lost the rear end of his Ferrari and crashed into the barriers at Turn 19, with his incident bringing out the red flag.
Reflecting on his qualifying, the Spaniard added: "It was a very strange qualifying session that obviously didn’t end well for us. Right before my push lap in Q3 I had to let a McLaren by, moving on to the dirty line, and then I quickly came back to push in the last corner.
"I misjudged the temperature of the tyres and the grip and lost the rear, hitting the wall. It’s a costly mistake from my side and I’m sorry for the team.
"The race is tomorrow and, even though it is going to be very difficult, Singapore is always a long race with opportunities along the way. We will try everything to gain some positions and bring home good points.
