Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen have explained what happened at the start of Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix, where the Ferrari driver had the best launch but failed to outdo his rival.
Despite starting from the dirty side of the track – which admittedly wasn’t as dirty as usual given it had rained the day before – Leclerc had his front axle nearly alongside Verstappen’s within seconds.
The four-time world champion, however, drove his opponent towards the inside, to the extent that Leclerc’s front wheels briefly exceeded the white line. The Monegasque braked earlier, and Verstappen was able to retain the lead from the outside.
“You don't have much time to think in those moments,” Leclerc said. “I just saw that Max had a bit of a difficult start. I had quite a good start, so I went alongside him. Then there wasn't much space anymore, but I would have done exactly the same.
“Then it's quite tricky. I was on the left, a little bit behind him, couldn't see the panels on the right, so you lose a little bit all your references because that's normally on the right that you have your references to brake. I tried to judge it in the best possible way, but Max managed to keep that first place.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images
That ruthless but fair driving paved the way for Verstappen’s victory. “I was only here to win, so I had to do everything I could to try and make sure that it was very difficult for Charles to go deep into the corner,” the Dutchman explained. “So I guess that was the only way to try and stop him from getting the lead.
“Luckily, he's a very experienced driver and we kept it clean. It was actually really nice, I think. It's always very hard to judge what is the right braking point, but I think it just worked out.”
The Red Bull driver also clarified that he had encountered a technical issue at lights out, hence his poor getaway.
“The start was critical, so that was just good enough,” he commented. “And again, something was not particularly right at the start, so I need to understand what went wrong there. Before releasing the clutch, it didn't feel good. But yeah, it was just good enough.
Pressed on the matter amid several unperfect starts – he lost the lead from pole in the sprint – Verstappen added: “I need to understand what went on with the engine before even dropping the clutch, because I think that did hurt my start. So, I just need to understand what went wrong there because it was again not fantastic, you can say that.”
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Who slept best last night: Max VerstappenVerstappen eventually won by seven seconds, and Leclerc didn’t feel like he really could have challenged his rival for the win: “Eventually they just had too much pace for us.”
Still, second place marked Leclerc’s joint second-best result of the season – far from an agonising performance.