F1 | Vasseur admits: “With Leclerc we waited too long in the pits”

Qualifying in Singapore is a dark night for both Ferraris, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz starting from ninth and tenth respectively on the grid at Marina Bay. The reasons for this overall negative result, however, are not the same for both Maranello drivers.

If the Monegasque was unable to complete the perfect lap, for the Madrid native the qualification ended with a bang at the start of Q3. As Frederic Vasseur declared to the microphones of Sky Sport F1, for Carlos there were no consequences except on a mental level: “Physically he is fine – he comments – but he is disappointed because it is not the result he expected after last year’s pole position. The most important thing, however, is that he is well and that he will be ready for tomorrow. Above all, ready to try to make a good comeback”.

Leclerc’s qualifying ended with only the ninth fastest time, with a lap cancelled due to a track limit at Turn 2: “I think he started the lap with the right temperature – Vasseur commented – but we didn’t want him to be the first one out on the track so we waited a bit longer than necessary in the pits, and that’s where we lost the temperature. Then he pushed a bit more and got back to the right temperature before the start of the lap. Then, you know that when you only have one lap available you have to push and you’re at the limit. I think he cut the line at Turn 2 by a couple of centimetres, but that’s part of the game”.

If on the eve of the weekend Ferrari was considered among the favourites to win, on the eve of the Grand Prix the forecasts are completely different. Singapore is not the easiest track for overtaking and Vasseur knows this well: “I would prefer to start from ninth or tenth position elsewhere and not on this circuit, on the other hand we have a strong pace right from the start and if we can repeat in the race what we showed during the first two free practice sessions, maybe we can do well again. We need to try to be a bit more aggressive with the strategy to see what we can do”.

“Today we couldn’t put everything together – he concludes – and that’s why we’re a bit frustrated. This is because the pace was there, it was there to be on the front row. I don’t know if we would have been able to get pole position, but we could have definitely been second. And that’s why we’re all a bit disappointed”.