Leclerc, Sainz lament ‘disappointing’ Saturday in Singapore

Carlos Sainz crashed and Charles Leclerc failed to register a lap time in final qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix Saturday leaving Ferrari “on the back foot” for Sunday’s race.

They will start ninth and 10th on the grid for Sunday’s race after Sainz spun into the barriers at the start of pit straight causing a red flag.

When the session resumed with only enough time for one qualifying run, Leclerc’s only lap time was cancelled for exceeding track limits. 

Both drivers had been quick during practice, with Leclerc topping the timesheets in Friday’s first session and lapping just 0.058sec behind Lando Norris in the second.

Norris took pole position in his McLaren, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen second and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in third.

“It was a disappointing qualifying for us,” said Leclerc who described why he had problems on his final run.

“My front tyres were too cold … so I had to push a lot more than usual on the out-lap to try and bring them up to the right temperature, but it was impossible,” said the Monegasque

“It’s a shame because this puts us on the back foot for the race, so we have to keep our expectations realistic, as to what might be possible.”

Sainz was preparing for his first flying lap when the back of his car snapped out on the final bend and he careered off.

“A very strange qualifying session that obviously didn’t end well for us,” admitted the Spaniard.

“I misjudged the temperature of the tyres and the grip and lost the rear, hitting the wall. 

“It’s a costly mistake from my side and I’m sorry for the team.”