Martin Brundle thinks Charles Leclerc’s simple error ‘ruined’ Ferrari driver’s Singapore GP

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Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle thinks Charles Leclerc ‘ruined his race’ at Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix when the Ferrari driver misjudged his pit stop margin.

The 25-year-old could only take a P4 finish around the modified-for-2023 Marina Bay Street Circuit. All the while his Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, became the first non-Red Bull driver to win an F1 Grand Prix this year. It also ended Max Verstappen’s run of 10 consecutive wins.

Sainz judged his Singapore GP to perfection to claim only his second Grand Prix victory after the 2022 British GP. The 29-year-old carefully maintained his lead over Lando Norris to keep the McLaren driver within DRS range so the 23-year-old would defend the Mercedes drivers.

Strategy won Sainz the Singapore GP but ruined Leclerc’s race

Sainz led Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps after the Mercedes pair’s late pit stop. The Silver Arrows had held back an extra set of medium tyres to have the choice of running an alternative strategy. It meant they had the superior pace near the end.

Mercedes utilised the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period triggered when Alpine’s Esteban Ocon suffered a gearbox failure to stop again. Ferrari elected to leave Sainz and Leclerc out, as did McLaren with Norris. But Russell and Hamilton would make light work of overtaking Leclerc.

Sainz, Norris and Leclerc had each made their one and only pit stop on Lap 20 under the full safety car. Race control neutralised the Singapore GP after Logan Sargeant scattered bits of his Williams on the track. The 22-year-old clipped a wall on Lap 19 and broke his front wing.

Ferrari were running one-two at that stage after Leclerc got the jump on Russell off the line. The Monegasque beat the 25-year-old into Turn 1 after starting on the soft compound tyres compared to the mediums. He and Sainz used their lead to manage their lap time and tyres.

Brundle feels the Ferrari driver ‘ruined his race’ in the pit lane

But the full safety car saw Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren dive into the pits to take the hard compound tyres. Leclerc was in the worst position as he needed to back up slightly to create a gap to Sainz. Yet, in doing so, he fell back too far and lost time and places whilst in the box.

Leclerc spent 32.888 seconds in the pit lane compared to Sainz’s 29.499, Russell’s 29.976 and Norris’ 29.485. He mainly lost time when Ferrari had to hold the five-time Grand Prix as Hamilton stopped. It proved enough to let Russell and Norris jump ahead of Leclerc, as well.

But, more so than Hamilton blocking the Ferrari driver from leaving his box, Brundle felt the distance Leclerc dropped back from Sainz to create a gap actually ‘ruined’ his Singapore GP.

Brundle detailed in a column for Sky Sports F1: “Sargent’s trip into the wall on Lap 19 would generate the first safety car to clear debris and this was good timing for those at the front to get a cheap stop, time-wise, and change tyres.

“The problem for Ferrari was that they were running closely first and second and there’s only one pit stop rig per team.

“Leclerc backed up the pack to make some space, for which you have to be careful not to get a penalty for unfair impeding, and it looked to me that he overestimated what he had to do because he was quite a long way from his garage when Sainz departed.

“Then having to wait for others to pass by before being released cost him two places and pretty much ruined his race in terms of full potential.”