Leclerc takes second at Singapore Grand Prix as Hamilton finishes sixth for Ferrari
Charles Leclerc finished the Singapore Grand Prix where he started, in second place, for Ferrari's 11th podium of the season, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton came home sixth after a split strategy backfired.
- 11
- 5
- 39
- 44 laps
What Happened
Charles Leclerc finished the Singapore Grand Prix where he started, in second place, claiming Scuderia Ferrari HP's 11th podium finish of the season, the Monegasque driver's fifth. From third on the grid, Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line in sixth. Tyre performance was a mystery for all teams going into the race, with only one hour of free practice and the Sprint race having been run on Intermediate tyres in the rain, and the Hard tyre had been ruled out. Wanting to put pole sitter Max Verstappen under as much pressure as possible, Ferrari split its strategy, putting Leclerc on Soft tyres for the first stint and Hamilton on Mediums.
The two SF-26s maintained position after Leclerc pulled alongside Verstappen going into turn 1.
Hamilton pitted to get rid of his Mediums, dropping to seventh place.
Leclerc pitted and took on Mediums, coming out fourth, one place ahead of Hamilton. After the McLaren pair pitted, the Ferrari pair were back in their grid positions.
A Virtual Safety Car was called to retrieve Lance Stroll's stricken Aston Martin. Leclerc made a cheap pit stop to go back onto the Softs, while Hamilton missed the pit entry and decided to stay out.
On fresher tyres, Leclerc needed just five laps to catch and pass his team-mate. Hamilton, on a very long 44-lap stint on Softs, could not fend off Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri and finished sixth.
- Finished P2
- Finished P6
“We gave it our all today and extracted the maximum, so I'm happy with our result. Red Bull and Max (Verstappen) were very strong all weekend, and even though I pushed throughout it wasn't quite enough to catch him in the end. We had a good pace and made the right calls today, with a different strategy that worked out well for us today. Next up we head to Austin. We will see what we can do there, and what all our competitors will bring in terms of upgrades which might reshuffle things again for the final set of races this season.”
“Today wasn't the result we were looking for and it was on me. At a track that's difficult to overtake, you need to try something different and I chose to start on a new Medium tyre, to go long and try to make a one-stop work. Unfortunately the Medium didn't perform as well as the Soft. I had a good second stint and the pace was back, but I couldn't make the progress I needed. Under the VSC, the team called me in but I missed the entry. After that, I decided to stay out and try to hold track position to the end but in the closing laps, I was struggling massively with tyre degradation and lost three places, finishing P6, which doesn't reflect the pace we had in the car today. A painful lesson today, but I take full responsibility for the decisions I made. Not every call will work out, and I can accept getting it wrong but I'm sorry to the team for the points we lost today. They put so much into every weekend, and I wanted to deliver more for them. I'll continue to put the work in and come back fighting at the next race.”
“Overall, it was a strong weekend for us. We finished P2 and P3 in the Sprint, P2 and P3 in qualifying, and today Charles was P2 while Lewis was very close to the podium. Max (Verstappen) had a little bit more pace than us across the weekend, so we still have work to do to close the gap, but the team delivered a solid performance and we scored good points. On the strategy side, everyone went into the race with very little information on the tyres. The Soft turned out to be stronger than expected compared to the Medium, so starting from P2 and P3 it made sense to split the strategies and keep our options open against Max. That's why Lewis had a more difficult first stint, but it gave him more flexibility later in the race. We also kept both the one-stop and two-stop scenarios open depending on how the race evolved and whether a Safety Car or a VSC came into play. When the VSC was deployed, we called both cars in while running P2 and P3. Lewis unfortunately missed the pit entry, and that probably cost him the opportunity to fight for the podium. These things can happen during a race. Now the focus is on understanding everything from this weekend, taking the positives, and coming back stronger in Austin.”
Overall, this second consecutive weekend in the tropics was a positive one for Ferrari, with a double podium finish in yesterday's Sprint race, a front row start today and another second place in the race. It means the team leaves Singapore with a total of 39 points to further consolidate its second place in the Constructors' championship. Next on the calendar is Austin in a fortnight's time for the US Grand Prix, the start of another triple header, all in the Americas.
Previously from Ferrari N.V.
Earlier in the Singapore weekend, Lewis Hamilton took second and Charles Leclerc third in the rain-delayed Sprint, giving Scuderia Ferrari HP 13 points, the most of any team. Leclerc had been second-fastest and Hamilton fourth-fastest in the weekend's only free practice session at Marina Bay. Leclerc lined up third and Hamilton sixth after the final Sprint Qualifying session of the season at the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit.
- Verstappen wins rain-delayed Singapore Sprint; Hamilton second and Leclerc third for Ferrari
- Leclerc second, Hamilton fourth for Ferrari in Singapore GP's only free practice
- Leclerc third, Hamilton sixth for Ferrari in Singapore Sprint Qualifying
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Ferrari N.V.'s official releases.
Why this matters
Leclerc's second place is Ferrari's 11th podium finish of the year and his fifth, and the 39 points the team takes away from Marina Bay further consolidate its second place in the Constructors' championship. For Hamilton, sixth place was a self-described missed opportunity, and he apologised to the team for the points lost. The result leaves Ferrari still chasing Max Verstappen's pace ahead of the US Grand Prix in Austin.
Terms in This Story
- Virtual Safety Car
- A race-neutralising procedure in which drivers must slow to a set pace while marshals recover a stopped car, without the field being bunched up behind a Safety Car.
- Sprint race
- A shorter race held earlier in a Grand Prix weekend that awards points and helps set part of the weekend's running order.
- Constructors' championship
- The team championship, scored by adding together the points both of a team's cars collect over the season.
- Tyre degradation
- The loss of grip and lap time as a tyre wears down over a stint.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.