It was a Saturday to forget for Scuderia Ferrari HP, with its cars qualifying no better than ninth and tenth for the Singapore Grand Prix, as neither driver set a valid time in Q3. Carlos Sainz crashed into the barriers at the start of the final phase, while Charles Leclerc’s only time was cancelled for exceeding track limits.
All wrong. Both drivers got through to the final part of qualifying without too much bother, only using the Soft tyres as they and the engineers kept an eye on track evolution, which was particularly pronounced after torrential rain following Friday free practice. They both had two sets of new Softs for Q3, waiting a minute after the green light before taking to the track, after which it all went wrong: Sainz lost control of the SF-24 at the final corner on his out lap, having just let Oscar Piastri past as the McLaren driver was on a quick lap. The Spaniard crashed hard into the barrier, fortunately without sustaining any injury, but the incident brought out the red flag. At this point, only Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg had set a time. On the only remaining run, Charles did not get the tyres completely into the right operating window and could only manage a 1’30”119 which would have been good enough for seventh place, but his time was cancelled for exceeding track limits at turn 2. Therefore neither Scuderia driver registered a time, with Charles credited with ninth place ahead of Carlos in tenth.
A long night. Tonight, the team faces a lot of work on all fronts: Carlos’ car will need to be checked over very carefully and the rear end rebuilt, while the data will have to be studied to find the best strategy to allow both drivers to move up the order in the race around the Marina Bay street circuit, where overtaking is very difficult despite the four DRS zones. This was definitely not the Saturday the team had expected in Singapore, but there is still everything to play for tomorrow and a good points haul is still on the cards.
Charles Leclerc #16
It was a disappointing qualifying for us. My front tyres were too cold when exiting the garage for Q3, so I had to push a lot more than usual on the out-lap to try and bring them up to the right temperature, but it was impossible. 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.
Carlos Sainz #55
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.
Fred Vasseur - Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP
A tough Saturday, maybe the most frustrating of the season so far. After his crash, Carlos is okay, even if this was not what he was expecting after his performance here last year. We had a strong pace all weekend so to come out of qualifying with no times on the board is tough especially as our Q2 time suggested we could get on the front row. With only time for one lap in Q3, Charles was naturally right on the limit and went over the line by a couple of centimetres.
So now we have to focus on tomorrow, when we will be trying to bring home the best result we can from where we are on the grid. Maybe we will have to be more aggressive than usual with our strategy choices, but Singapore is not the easiest track for overtaking.