Formula 1 – Singapore Grand Prix – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): ‘Super’ qualification and Michael Schumacher on the horizon

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari may have at least stopped the bleeding. After five wins for Max Verstappen and Red Bull, he left Monaco and Scuderia to take back control in Singapore and postpone the Dutch title next weekend, at Suzuka. In first place for the seventeenth round of the World Cup, the driver from the emirate will start seven places ahead of the world championship leader, forced to give up his last lap in the third quarter, due to the impending shortage of fuel.

In pole position for the ninth time this season, “Charlotte” also came close to the 11th that Michael Schumacher signed in 2001, a Maranello driver’s record. And for that, he wasn’t happy that he earned his new medal with 0″ 022 ahead of Sergio Perez (Red Bull), the narrowest margin he’s had in 18 places in first place.

Leclerc is very urban

“It was a very difficult qualifier. In the first quarter and second quarter with the ‘brokers’ and then in the third quarter, we didn’t really know what to do, He confessed. We chose to ‘put it up’ at the last minute and it paid off.” In fact, he took the lead himself to leave the “intermediate” to “give” a few seconds before the track opened in Q3, seeing Red Bull’s own Max Verstappen pass in front of his garage with red tyres. “We go there on patches, even if we have to waste time”His engineer, Xavier Marcos Padros, was named. “Stop the engine”Then a Spanish technician.

However, the scenario for this second place in a row in Singapore was not the easiest. When the track was drying up we had to keep our focus, find the clear lap and respond to Fernando Alonso (Alps), then Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).

“It was really complicatedHe said. I got it wrong on my last lap so I thought we wouldn’t have a pole, but it was enough. It was really special. All qualifying on an urban track is very limited, and even more so when it’s wet like that: There were wet parts where the rear was lost. But overall I managed to do a clean lap.”

Lack of racing data

However, it must be said that the driver from the principality is doing well on the city’s racetracks, having already dominated qualifying this year in Miami, Monaco and Baku. After that, the pole is an added relief after Friday’s technical setbacks. “I had a very limited number of laps but we recovered well”confirmed.

The only downside is that he will enter this exceptionally long race – the 61 laps will still be close to two hours into the race – by lower standards than usual. “We don’t have a lot of data but with perfect execution we can win”did he say.

The title is not the subject of it. “I dont carehe cut. I want to win here, that’s all I care about. I know it’s only a matter of time before Max gets the title. But when that happens I don’t care.”