Leclerc’s race “all about waiting and waiting”

In the round-up: Charles Leclerc described his Singapore Grand Prix as an exercise in patience.

In brief

Singapore GP all about patience – Leclerc

Leclerc spent the first 28 laps of his race trying to find a way past Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso. Once he finally broke free of them, he was able to secure a fifth-place finish.

“It was very, very frustrating because I wished Nico and Fernando would pit earlier, but obviously they were doing their race and they have all the right to do so,” he told Viaplay.

“But that compromised ours because we were just stuck for 35 laps behind them and then it’s all about waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and hoping that they don’t go too long on their stint, in order to then push on my tyres and come back towards the end. And that’s what we did. But we weren’t in a great position to do anything better.”

Oakes expected better from Alpine

Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes admitted he expected their cars to perform better in Singapore than they did at the high-speed Baku and Monza circuits. However Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly could only manage 13th and 17th.

“It was a tough day on track and a repeat of what we saw in qualifying, which follows the trend from the previous couple of races,” said Oakes, who took charge of the team during the summer break. “We had expected to perform better here on this circuit configuration, but we did not have the pace.

“This is the reality of where we are currently. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to bring more performance to the car in the coming races.”

Verstappen continues press conference protest

Max Verstappen refused to speak at length in yesterday’s FIA press conference, continuing his protest from Saturday in reaction to his penalty for swearing in Friday’s FIA press conference. Speaking separately to media afterwards, Verstappen indicated the row could have a bearing on his future in F1.

Stroll thanks crew

Lance Stroll thanked his mechanics for performing a rapid brake change prior to the start of the race. “On my laps to the grid I felt some strange vibrations, so the team worked quickly to replace a set of brakes as a precaution,” he said.

“It was a huge effort from the mechanics out there, so a big thanks to them for getting that sorted so quickly in this heat.” Stroll went on to finish 14th.

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