Jolyon Palmer noticed something ‘grim’ watching Charles Leclerc at the Singapore Grand Prix

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Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc left Jolyon Palmer reeling during qualifying for the 2025 F1 Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday, en route to the Monegasque only achieving P7.

The 27-year-old will be the second Ferrari driver on the grid for Sunday’s Singapore GP, after teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified P6 with a 1:29.688 lap of Marina Bay. Leclerc recorded a 1:29.784 to claim P7, but he finished Q3 a 0.626-second deficit to polesitter George Russell.

Leclerc was the second Ferrari driver at the end of Q1 and start of Q3, as well, having ended the opening phase in P8 to Hamilton in P1 and the first leg of the top-10 shootout in P7 and P6 respectively. Leclerc also failed to improve his provisional-best lap time at the end of Q3.

A wild ride through the final corners thwarted Leclerc’s bid to improve his best Q3 time and his starting position for Sunday’s Singapore GP from P7. But the warning signs had been on show much earlier for the 27-time career polesitter, which even alarmed Palmer during Q2.

Charles Leclerc’s pace struggles on new tyres in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying worried Jolyon Palmer

Leclerc left Palmer reeling during Q2 at the Singapore GP after struggling for speed on a new set of the soft Pirelli C5 tyres. Leclerc could only do a 1:30.472 on his first Q2 run, which was 0.236s off the time he needed to demote Haas’ Oliver Bearman from the provisional top 10.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the 2025 F1 Singapore Grand Prix

The Ferrari star was also 0.725s off the overall pace that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set with a 1:29.747. And Leclerc’s early struggles in Q2 even left him rooted to the bottom of the top 15 as he started his final flyer, 0.910s off the 1:29.562 that Russell set to top the timesheets.

Palmer said on F1 TV: “It’s grim for Leclerc. It’s a new set of tyres he has thrown on there and not found the pace.”

Leclerc also faced a 0.270s deficit to Williams’ Alex Albon for P10 as the Ferrari star started his final flying lap in Q2. But personal bests in sectors two and three moved Leclerc from P15 to P6 with a 1:29.914, which also demoted Nico Hulkenberg as the Sauber star edged Albon.

Charles Leclerc once again highlights Ferrari’s season-long issues with Pirelli’s 2025 tyres

Ferrari have struggled with Pirelli’s 2025 F1 tyre range all year, with the Scuderia even facing problems throughout the full range of six compounds at various circuits on the calendar. The issue has often been linked to Ferrari’s struggles with the operating window of Pirelli’s tyres.

Leclerc’s lack of pace during Q2 at the Singapore GP, which worried Palmer, is now the latest incident of Ferrari’s problems extracting performance with new tyres. It could have also had huge consequences if yellow or red flags or a mistake had ruined Leclerc’s final Q2 flying lap.

Ultimately, Ferrari also did not have the outright pace to challenge their frontrunning rivals in Mercedes, Red Bull (through Verstappen) and McLaren. Russell secured pole for the 2025 Singapore GP with a lap 0.530s quicker than Hamilton and also 0.626s quicker than Leclerc.