Leclerc ‘very disappointed’ with Singapore Qualifying after struggling with ‘unbelievably difficult’ car

Charles Leclerc was left “very disappointed” by his P7 in Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, with the Monegasque stating that his car has been “unbelievably difficult” to drive through the weekend so far.

In a session that saw Mercedes take a surprise pole position with George Russell, Ferrari could not match the Silver Arrows as Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc claimed sixth and seventh respectively.

When asked about his overriding emotion after Qualifying – and whether he felt frustrated – Leclerc answered: “Yeah, for sure. [It was] not a good lap, but to be honest not a good lap because the car has been unbelievably difficult since the beginning of the weekend to drive and to put things together.

“To learn things from the car when things are just reacting differently from one corner to another is very tricky, and that’s what happened today. I’m very disappointed, but it’s the way it is.”

Pushed on how much of a surprise this had been – given that Ferrari have often performed well at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in the past – Leclerc said: “A big surprise, and I think the biggest surprise is seeing Mercedes on pole, where they struggled in the past in hot conditions, and they come here and they put it on pole.

“Congratulations to them, and we will try to put them under pressure tomorrow, but I’m not sure that from P6 or P7 they will feel any kind of pressure.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, conceded that he felt more had been possible following his P6 in Saturday’s Qualifying, having appeared to be quick during the session.

“I think the pace was there, I think we just didn’t optimise the sessions, Q2 onwards basically,” the seven-time World Champion summarised.

While he sounded an optimistic note about his progress at the wheel of the SF-25, Hamilton also acknowledged that Sunday’s race could prove tough.

“I’m definitely more comfortable in the car,” he explained. “This weekend I think I’ve been driving really well – I’ve been really happy with my performance in the car.

“I think P6 is not good. I definitely think that we should have been further ahead, but it was just all about tyre temp today and it is every week, pretty much.

“I think tomorrow’s going to be tough from where we are – there’s not really much we can do from there.”