For Charles Leclerc the Singapore GP weekend was one of frustration, and coming on the back of similar disappointment in Baku – another street track where the Ferrari driver arrived with some optimism – it was not easy to take.
Having qualified seventh he had a good start from the favoured odd-numbered side of the grid, passing Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli to take fifth.
However like his team mate he was dealing with brake issues almost from the start, although they weren’t quite so dire.
Nevertheless in the latter stages of the race he was not able to keep a charging Antonelli behind, and thus he dropped back to a finish sixth.
The 46-second margin to the winning Mercedes of George Russell, and not much less to the Red Bull and McLaren that completed the top three, was as perhaps even more painful that the actual position.
“From lap eight, basically it was all about managing those brakes,” he said when I asked him about his race.
“I think everybody has to manage to a certain extent on a track like this, but I think we were on the worst side of things, and that makes it extremely difficult. I mean, our whole race was very tricky.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the race car to fight with the guys in front. McLaren always had the same gap on us compared to the beginning of the year. Red Bull did a step from Monza and are the same level of McLaren. Mercedes now is at the same level of McLaren and Red Bull.
“And then there’s us. It’s not easy, obviously, because you want to fight for better positions, but at the moment, it just feels like we are kind of passengers to the car, and we cannot extract much more.”
There’s more than air of resignation about Leclerc at the moment. He’s accepted that the situation won’t change given the lack of developments in the pipeline as like others Maranello focusses all its energies on 2026.
“I don’t think there will be anything special,” he said. “The picture we’ve seen this weekend is going to be what the rest of the season looks like for us.”
It looks increasingly like Ferrari will end this year without a win, other than Hamilton’s success in the Shanghai sprint.
Leclerc has been through some tough times, but this one hurts given the optimism heading into the season.
“I wouldn’t describe it as the most difficult,” he said. “I think every time you don’t fight for wins, it’s difficult. But obviously coming from a year like last year, where you are fighting for the constructors’ World Championship, and then you come here with high expectations, you’re below your expectations from the beginning, and you don’t even see a progression throughout the year, it’s not easy.
“It takes a lot of energy, but that doesn’t demotivate me. It motivates me, if anything, much more to try and turn the situation around. But it’s very tough, especially after a race like today, where you are not even fighting for a podium, and you have to manage lots of issues. It’s just not a nice feeling.”
Adam Cooper F1 