Charles Leclerc says he threw everything he had at Max Verstappen under the Singapore lights, but even an all-out assault on the Red Bull driver was not enough for Ferrari to prevail at Marina Bay.
The Monegasque settled for second at the chequered flag on Sunday, having threatened to make life uncomfortable for Verstappen in the opening phase before tyre degradation and a divergent strategy gradually tilted the contest in his rival’s favour.
Leclerc refused to dwell on what might have been, insisting he had no regrets about the way he approached the race.
Yet beneath his satisfaction with Ferrari’s pace lay a familiar acknowledgement: if the Scuderia wants to turn these close encounters into victories, it still needs to find more performance.
“Yeah, we were quite strong at the beginning of the race, then we started degrading a little bit more in the first stint, but then we did a slightly different strategy to Max with the safety car,” Leclerc explained in parc fermé after the race.
The Ferrari driver had made an excellent start from the front row, immediately putting pressure on polesitter Verstappen as the pair negotiated the opening corners.
He remained within striking distance during the early laps, but the Red Bull gradually began to stretch its advantage as the first stint wore on.
Leclerc backs all-or-nothing approach
Ferrari’s strategic divergence offered Leclerc another opportunity to challenge for the lead, but the Monegasque acknowledged that his aggressive approach came at a cost.
Determined to keep Verstappen within reach, Leclerc attacked hard at the beginning of his final stint rather than conserving his tyres for a late charge. The gamble kept the pressure on, but the resulting degradation left him unable to mount a sustained challenge in the closing stages.
"I believed in it until the very end, but I pushed a lot at the beginning of that last stint and then degraded a bit more than the others," Leclerc conceded.
"But yeah, I gave it all, and I don't regret anything. I don't think there was much more to do today, apart from maybe a bit more aggressive at the start. That's the way it is."
Ultimately, Verstappen managed the gap to the Ferrari and crossed the line 7.3 seconds clear, securing his first Singapore Grand Prix victory on his 10th attempt.
Read also: Hamilton apologises to Ferrari for strategy blunder in Singapore GPLeclerc nevertheless delivered a valuable result for Ferrari, finishing ahead of both Mercedes and McLaren and collecting an important haul of points for the Constructors' Championship.
But while second place confirmed that the Scuderia could make life difficult for Red Bull around the tight confines of Marina Bay, Leclerc was unwilling to interpret one competitive weekend as proof that the underlying performance gap had disappeared.
Ferrari still needs another step
Asked whether Ferrari had finally closed the deficit to Red Bull, Leclerc remained candid about the work still required at Maranello.
"Yeah, I still feel that way," Leclerc stated regarding Ferrari's pace disadvantage.
"However, it's true that we brought some small new parts to the car, which maybe helped us to do another step forward, but it's not an awful push until the end, and we still got to bring some new things to the car to be at that level. But I think today we had a good pace overall."
The encouraging element for Ferrari is that its recent refinements appear to have delivered a modest improvement, allowing Leclerc to sustain a fight with Verstappen for a significant portion of the race.
However, the Monegasque knows that marginal gains will only take the team so far.
For the Scuderia, though, the message from its leading driver was unmistakable: giving everything is not the problem. Finding more speed is the next challenge.
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