Leclerc’s Singapore Qualifying Woes: A Chilling Problem with No Precedent

Charles Leclerc laments an unprecedented issue following a disastrous Q3 at the Singapore Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc discusses a challenging F1 qualifying round at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc attributed his poor performance in Q3 at the Singapore Grand Prix to insufficient temperature in the front tyres.

Leclerc's last qualifying round was disqualified for surpassing the track boundaries during Q3, placing him in the ninth position on the starting grid for the race on Sunday.

Until then, Leclerc appeared to be in the running for the top qualifying spot, but Carlos Sainz's accident meant that the other nine drivers were only able to finish a single lap.

Leclerc faced difficulties in clocking a competitive lap as his tyres were not sufficiently warmed up, resulting in a time that fell behind Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg's.

Subsequently, it was disqualified for exceeding track boundaries, marking a dismal qualifying session for Ferrari.

After the qualifying round, Leclerc shared his experience with Sky Sports, discussing the problem he encountered.

Leclerc mentioned, "It's an issue that hasn't come up at all during the weekend. The blankets for the front tires aren't functioning correctly, leading to the tires being excessively cold when exiting the pits."

"I really had to exert maximum effort on the out lap to regain the temperature, but it just didn't work out. That's all there is to it. At this point, I'm not sure what went wrong. I haven't gone over the data or queried the team during the in lap, and they didn't provide any reasons. It seems they're still looking into the issue. I'm in the dark as much as anyone."

Leclerc dismissed accusations that Ferrari was not fully engaged, following an uninspiring last practice session.

During the second qualifying session, Leclerc was merely a tenth of a second slower than Oscar Piastri's leading time, underscoring Ferrari's strong bid for the pole position.

Leclerc thinks Ferrari just needed to record a lap time.

"Today, we found our groove," he detailed. "Especially during qualifying. In the third free practice, we faced some issues. The temperature had risen, and we anticipated challenges with the configuration. However, we remained optimistic that things would improve for the qualifying session."

"A 29.7 was a solid performance in the second qualifying round. In the third round, the goal was simply to register a time, but we failed to do so."

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