Charles Leclerc has said that Ferrari don’t expect to be as competitive at the Singapore GP despite making significant strides at their home race at Monza.
Leclerc finished fourth at the Scuderia’s home race for the Italian GP after an intriguing battle in the closing stages of the race with teammate Carlos Sainz, with the home heroes the clear second best behind Red Bull all weekend.
The high-speed straights and low downforce package used at Monza played into the team’s hands, but Leclerc told media that while the race provided some optimism for their development direction, he was less confident about their prospects in Singapore.
“We learned plenty during Monza, especially about our weaknesses. And it confirmed that we were stronger on low downforce trucks, which obviously for here, it’s going to be a bit more of a difficult weekend for us,” Leclerc said.
“But there might be few things that will help us here. I mean, again, after Monza we understood more things which are good for this year, even though it will be a small step in the right direction.”
Need to reset
Ferrari’s performance in front of the adoring Tifosi gave the team something to smile about after a difficult run of races where they have fallen behind both a rejuvenated McLaren and Mercedes in the pecking order.
But Leclerc said he was under no illusions that the team will likely be in a much closer battle around the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
“No, I think (the issue) is the overall performance we’ll have this weekend,” he said.
“It’s quite difficult to get from one weekend in Monza where we are fighting for third position and we are clearly the second strongest team on track to a weekend like this where we need to reset a little bit and where we each will be much closer, at least with Mercedes with McLaren with also Aston Martin.
“So yeah, we just need to reset a little bit more.”
