Leclerc reveals what might be decisive in the fierce battle between Ferrari and Mercedes
Ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has revealed what might play a decisive role in the fierce battle between Ferrari and Mercedes in the battle for the second place in the teams’ championship.
Ferrari suffered a tough weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix two weeks ago. The Scuderia put in a dominant performance on the opening day of the Baku weekend, with Lewis Hamilton having set the benchmark on Friday ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc.
However, conditions changed massively for Saturday and so changed Ferrari’s form. Hamilton was not even able to progress into the final qualifying segment after a strategic error from Ferrari while Leclerc suffered a crash on his first hot lap in Q3.
The Monegasque and the Briton had a great start, moving up the order by a few places, but they were unable to climb any higher than P8 and P9 on a track which usually favoured Ferrari’s cars in recent seasons.
After the last two rounds at Monza and Baku where teams ran an extremely low-downforce setup, the Marina Bay Circuit will prompt the F1 field revert to a high-downforce aerodynamic configuration.
Although Ferrari are not in contention for the teams’ championship title considering McLaren’s advantage, the Scuderia finds itself in a close battle for the second place with Mercedes.
While Ferrari looked to have the upper hand over the summer races, Mercedes managed to significantly reduce the gap to the Italian outfit last time out in Baku where George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished second and fourth respectively.
With seven races left to complete in the remainder of the season, Charles Leclerc reckons that ambient temperatures might play a big role in the final outcome of the fight between Ferrari and Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship.
“I think we are in a very different place to last year. However, to resume it in the simplest way, I feel like Mercedes is very strong whenever it’s cold, and we seem to be stronger whenever it’s warm.
“Looking at the next few races, I hope it’s as warm as it can get, so we have an advantage. I feel like this is what is going to swing the performance one way or another more than any other track characteristic.
“This is where we stand, and we’ll see how it goes. But this weekend should be warm, and we need to take that as an opportunity for us to close the gap to them,” added the Monegasque.
Pressed on to reveal whether he thinks Red Bull will be able to maintain its form from the last two rounds and challenge McLaren for the win, Leclerc added that he expects the papaya outfit to re-emerge as a dominant force in the remaining races.
„We’ve been on low-downforce tracks, Monza, Baku. I feel the Red Bull was very strong. I expect McLaren to come back to the pace we’ve seen for most of the season here and at some other future tracks. I see it very unlikely, but we never know.
„They brought an upgrade in Monza which seems to be working very much, but whether it will work on a high-downforce track, I don’t think enough to beat McLaren.”
