22 SepSingapore GP

Fighting back

Singapore 22 settembre 2024

The Scuderia Ferrari HP team and its drivers ran another perfectly executed race in Singapore. Charles managed to make up four places to finish fifth and Carlos Sainz, taking part today in his 200th Grand Prix, finished five places higher than he started, seventh after dropping down to 12th off the line. Leclerc in particular, once he had pitted for tyres and with a clear track ahead of him, was able to lap at the same pace as the leaders Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, suggesting that if qualifying had gone better, he could have fought for the win. With 18 points scored today, the team is third in the Constructors’ classification, the same place Charles occupies in the Drivers’ standings, while Carlos is still fifth.

Split strategy. Charles and Carlos both started on the Medium tyres but their strategies were different. Leclerc got away well, passing Yuki Tsunoda, then tucking in behind Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso, while Sainz lost two places and found himself in a DRS train. The team therefore decided to call him in very early, on la 13, to switch to the Hard tyre, after which he had slower cars to deal with before running pretty much at his own pace. This move, combined with his clever tyre management, meant Sainz got as high as sixth place on lap 43. As for Leclerc, he stayed out until lap 36, one of the last to pit, having managed his Mediums very well. It meant he was able to rejoin eighth, ahead of Hulkenberg on much fresher tyres compared to Alonso, who was only able to keep the Ferrari at bay for two laps. On lap 43, the team switched the drivers round so that Leclerc could set off in pursuit of the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Sainz meanwhile was managing his seventh place, fending off Alonso who never really posed a threat. Charles easily passed Hamilton with ten laps remaining and closed on the other Mercedes five laps from the flag. To overtake at this track requires a big pace difference and by this time Charles’ Hard tyres had given of their best and so he had to settle for fifth. For Carlos also, seventh was the best he could expect today.

Long break. The world championship now takes a break of almost one month with the next round being the United States Grand Prix at Austin on 20 October.

Charles Leclerc #16

We maximised our potential today and our race execution was really good. The first stint was a bit frustrating and long for me, it required a lot of patience, staying steady behind slower cars ahead. On the second stint, things looked better and we had a really good pace in clean air.

I pushed quite a bit and towards the end of the race, when it was time to overtake George (Russell), my rear tyres were not in the best shape and we didn’t manage to gain that position, but we did a good job anyway. 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.

Carlos Sainz #55

It was a challenging race. We took a risk by pitting very early, but we made it work to the end, gaining some positions. We knew our pace was solid and I enjoyed some good overtakes on track. Today was about damage limitation, but we leave Singapore with a sense of disappointment.

Now there is a gap to reset and come back stronger for the last races of the season. There are still a lot of points in play and we need to maximise every weekend.

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP

I’m very pleased with how we performed today, less so with Saturday. We had a good strategy, good race management and we ran a very strong race on both sides of the garage.

Carlos had a difficult start after which he showed good pace and in the closing stages, Charles was matching Norris for pace and Russell was not that far in front at the end. We could not really expect more than this fifth place from where we started.

We now have a three week gap to the next race and I expect all the teams, including ourselves, will bring something new to Austin. It’s the first part of a triple-header and I expect that, as usual, some of these three tracks will suit some teams better than others.