Leclerc 'gave it all' to grab Singapore P2 as Ferrari fall seven seconds short of Verstappen

Charles Leclerc insists he has no regrets after leaving everything on the track in a determined drive to second place at the Singapore Grand Prix, even as Ferrari trailed winner Max Verstappen by seven seconds at the chequered flag.

The Monegasque came agonisingly close to stealing the lead from Verstappen at lights out, but was squeezed to the inside and opted against committing to an overtake, leaving him tucked behind the Dutchman for the opening stint. The early pressure he applied faded with his tyre performance, and he eventually pitted at the end of Lap 24 to marginally stay ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was frustrated not to find a way through.

A Virtual Safety Car later handed Leclerc a fresh-tyre opportunity, and Ferrari engineered his reclaim of P2 from Hamilton — a position he held to the finish, seven seconds adrift of Verstappen.

“We were quite strong at the beginning of the race, then we started degrading a bit more in the first stint,” Leclerc explained. “Then we did a slightly different strategy to Max with the [Virtual] Safety Car.

“I believed in it until the very end, but I pushed a lot at the beginning of that last stint and degraded a bit more than the others. I gave it all and I don’t regret anything. I don’t think there was much more to do today apart from maybe [be] a bit more aggressive at the start. That’s the way it is.”

While his post-race radio message admitted Ferrari “just weren’t fast enough”, Leclerc found some satisfaction in the alternative strategy, stating: “At least we tried something different.”

The result marked his first Grand Prix podium since Round 10 in Belgium, capping a positive weekend after he also finished in the top three in Saturday’s Sprint. Asked whether he stands by earlier comments about Ferrari’s loss of pace, Leclerc said: “I still feel that way. However, it’s true that we brought some small new parts to the car which maybe helped us to do another step forward.

“It’s not enough. We’ll push to the end and we’ve still got to bring some new things to the car to be at the level. I think today we had good pace overall.”