Charles Leclerc labelled Ferrari’s pace in Singapore as a “big surprise”, with Sebastian Vettel reckoning it will boost the team’s confidence for the rest of 2019.
Ferrari has held an advantage at high-speed power-heavy venues this year and it duly delivered on expectations to win from pole position courtesy of Leclerc in Belgium and Italy.
But at other circuits, particularly ones that place an emphasis on high levels of downforce and aerodynamic efficiency, it has struggled.
Singapore’s Marina Bay circuit fell into the latter category but after a subdued Friday Ferrari emerged as a contender on Saturday, with Leclerc taking pole, and Vettel lining up third.
In a race dictated by strategy Vettel used the undercut to vault into the lead and he was followed home by second, giving Ferrari its third win on the bounce, and first 1-2 finish since 2017.
“It will be difficult [to maintain this form] because I’m pretty sure that the other teams will bring some upgrades too in the next few races but it’s looking good,” said Leclerc.
“We’ve had two opposite characteristics of tracks in the last three weeks and we’ve been quick in both of them and I think it was quite a big surprise for us but for everyone to be quick on a high downforce track like [in Singapore].
“It’s a good thing and I hope it’s a good sign for the future.”
Vettel praised Ferrari for its recent form but stressed it still has substantial progress to make in order to realise its overall ambition.
“I’ve been around for a while now with Ferrari and I think there’s only one way for Ferrari to be back which is when we win the championship,” he said.
“That’s a very harsh judgement but that’s what it is, that’s the reality. We’re working very hard on that.
“I think this year will be very, very difficult to turn things around with the current form that Mercedes has for the last 15 races or 14 races that we did now, but we keep fighting because anything we learn this year will help us next year, so the bits we brought here obviously are positive in terms of also looking to next year’s direction, development etc.
“But we need more, obviously we want to be the best team, which currently we are not.
“The last races have been good for us so that’s great for our self-confidence inside the team for everyone, but there’s still a lot of work ahead of us.”
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