Leclerc hails Ferrari fightback from torrid Singapore GP qualifying.
Charles Leclerc hailed Ferrari's "really good race execution" that enabled him to claw his way up to fifth in the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday after a disastrous qualifying session 24 hours earlier.
22/09/2024
France 24

"We maximised our potential today and our race execution was really good," said Leclerc, who still has an outside shot at the drivers' title. He is third in the standings, 34 points behind second-placed Norris and 85 adrift of leader Max Verstappen with six races and three sprints to go.

"Overall, it isn't the most satisfying weekend for us, but as a team, we can be proud of turning things around and bringing home this P5 today."

‘Leclerc hails Ferrari fightback’;

https://www.france24.com/en/live-new...-gp-qualifying


Leclerc’s race “all about waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting”
23rd September 2024
Keith Collantine
RaceFans

Leclerc spent the first 28 laps of his race trying to find a way past Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso. Once he finally broke free of them, he was able to secure a fifth-place finish. “It was very, very frustrating because I wished Nico and Fernando would pit earlier, but obviously they were doing their race and they have all the right to do so,” he told Viaplay.

“But that compromised ours because we were just stuck for 35 laps behind them and then it’s all about waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and hoping that they don’t go too long on their stint, in order to then push on my tyres and come back towards the end. And that’s what we did. But we weren’t in a great position to do anything better.”

“All about waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting”;

https://www.racefans.net/2024/09/23/...nd-up-23-09-7/


Leclerc “loved” Singapore GP charge after early nightmare in traffic
23 Sep 2024
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog

Charles Leclerc says he “loved” the second part of a Singapore GP that saw him charge to fifth place from ninth on the grid after his frustrating Q3 session. “Yeah, I did,” he said when asked by this writer if he’d enjoyed the race. “From the end of the first stint to the last laps, I loved it. The first 25 laps were a nightmare, because I was just a sitting duck behind Fernando and Nico.”

“And I was just hoping that they had to box very soon because of [the cars] behind, but it never really happened, and they went very long. And I just had to wait. But overall, it’s been a good race from that moment onwards. As soon as they pitted, we maximised our points. We just paid a little bit price of a bad quali yesterday.”

‘Charles Leclerc says he “loved” the second part of a Singapore GP’;

https://adamcooperf1.com/2024/09/23/...re-in-traffic/


Leclerc looks to positives but Ferrari paid the price in Singapore
Leclerc managed to recover from P9 on the grid to finish fifth in Singapore
23 Sep 2024
Adriano Boin
Total Motorsport

Charles Leclerc managed to find the positives and believes Ferrari maximised their performance in the 2024 Singapore GP, with a fifth-place finish all they could have asked for after a disastrous showing in qualifying.

“The last laps I loved it. The first 25 laps were a nightmare because I was just a sitting duck behind Fernando and Nico,” Leclerc told accredited members of the press, including Total-Motosport.com.

“I was just hoping that they had to pit very soon because I was behind, but it never really happened. They went very long so I just had to wait. Overall, it was a good race from that moment onwards. As soon as they pit we maximised our points, we just paid a little bit of the price for our qualifying yesterday.”

‘Looks to positives’;

https://www.total-motorsport.com/cha...-singapore-gp/


Charles Leclerc: Ferrari ‘paid the price’ for Singapore F1 qualifying setback
23 Sep 2024
Taylor Powling
Motorsport Week

Charles Leclerc has conceded that he “paid the price” in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix for the qualifying setback which spoiled his and Ferrari‘s race prospects.

However, the marque’s hopes unravelled once the all-important Q3 session that determines the grid arrived as Carlos Sainz crashed while Leclerc propped up in ninth. Leclerc’s one attempt was deleted as he exceeded track limits at Turn 2, with the Ferrari driver incensed that low tyre temperatures had compromised his endeavours.

“Paid the price”;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2024/...fying-setback/


Ferrari rue qualifying disaster in F1 Singapore GP
23 Sep 2024
Dan Lawrence
Motorsport Week

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur rued a costly qualifying session that hurt Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s chances in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. “Friday we were in a better shape than fifth and seventh, so it means that we missed something during the weekend, it’s clear,” said Vasseur.

“But when you start in Singapore ninth and 10th, you know did something wrong on Saturday. It’s not the Sunday that we have to learn something. It’s more than to do a better job on Saturday.” Vasseur said that “the result of the weekend is not the one expected,” no doubt disappointed given Ferrari took victory in Singapore last year.

‘Ferrari rue qualifying disaster’;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2024/...-singapore-gp/


Leclerc pinpoints key failing in Singapore ‘missed opportunity’
Charles Leclerc walked away from the Singapore Grand Prix with a fifth place result in a “missed opportunity” for Ferrari.
23 Sep 2024
Fergal Walsh & Ian Parkes
RacingNews365

When asked if Singapore was a missed opportunity for Ferrari, Leclerc told media including RacingNews365: “I would say yes. But looking back at the pace of the McLaren, and of Max, I’m not sure how many points have we missed today.”

“George definitely, I think we had the car in order to finish in front. I didn’t check again the pace of everybody, but what I’ve heard about Lando’s pace, I don’t think we quite had that in the car, and I don’t know where the others were behind him.”

‘Missed opportunity’;

https://racingnews365.com/leclerc-pi...ed-opportunity


Singapore GP data: How the power of the overcut was used against Mercedes at Marina Bay
23 Sep 2024
Pablo Hidalgo
PlanetF1.com

Still to make the epic comeback was Leclerc. On lap 42, after being blocked by Alonso for three laps, the Ferrari driver finally managed to overtake the Spaniard. Ahead, Carlos Sainz in P6 was in a very different race situation to the Monégasque driver.

Ferrari ordered Sainz to swap positions with Leclerc on lap 43 and the Spaniard put up no opposition. Leclerc then had almost 20 laps to catch Hamilton who was 15 seconds ahead on tyres 19 laps older. And just as in the case of McLaren, with a car also superior to Mercedes in race pace. In just eight laps, Leclerc hunted Hamilton down to reach P5. The Ferrari driver then had another 11 laps to try and catch Russell who was eight seconds ahead.

Leclerc pushed as hard as he could with the hard tyre which started to degrade quickly from lap 55 onwards. The Monégasque reached Russell’s DRS zone on lap 58, but due to the high tyre wear and the difficulty to overtake on track in Singapore, he didn’t make it to P4.

‘The power of the overcut’;

https://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Sport/F1...harles+Leclerc