The Carlos Sainz win for Ferrari that left Charles Leclerc ‘really hurt’

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari have learnt to put greater focus on the race over qualifying, with Singapore 2023 a particularly nasty sting for Leclerc.

In an F1 2023 season of Red Bull dominance, Ferrari inflicted the only defeat of the season upon the dominant Milton Keynes-based squad, as Carlos Sainz took the chequered flag in Singapore. That one “really hurt” for Leclerc .

F1 2024 Charles Leclerc and Ferrari has the race in mind

That reveal came from Leclerc’s Ferrari driver coach Jock Clear, who when appearing on the F1 Nation podcast , was asked to dissect what was billed as one of Leclerc’s strongest F1 seasons yet, having claimed wins at Monaco and Monza, while scoring nine podiums overall.

Leclerc has developed a reputation for being an F1 one-lap specialist, though Clear argues that tag is “not really fair”, and went on to explain how a greater focus on the races for driver and team has boosted Leclerc’s Sunday exploits.

Sainz’s win at the 2023 Singapore GP also gave Leclerc a shot of motivation, as that one stung.

“Charles, I mean, we all know what he’s capable of. We’ve seen that over a few years now,” said Clear.

“And his reputation in qualifying has certainly been cemented over those years, in so much as people tended to say to me two years ago, three years ago, ‘Yeah, but he’s nowhere near as good in the race as he is in qualifying’. And you think, well, that’s not really fair. It’s just that he’s very, very good at qualifying.

“But that said, I think this year, you have seen the result really, of a development on the car side and a development on the driver side.

“That is to say that you recognise that there’s no points on Saturday and all the points come on Sunday. And therefore, I think it’s probably true that we’ve shifted our focus slightly to making the car a better race car.

“Tyre management is, of course, always a hot topic. But, you know, we’ve seen Charles do some very good races.

“I remember back in ’22 in Austria, where Max really struggled with tyre degradation, and Charles won that race with a really good drive. It’s not that Charles historically hasn’t been good on tyres. I think that it’s we as a combination, haven’t been focused that well on tyres.

“And so I think what we’ve seen this year is the result of us being more focused on getting the car working really well in the race and looking after those tyres, and Charles learning from previous years and honing those skills of tyre management, but also, race management.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz head-to-head in F1 2024

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

“And I think he’s responded well to a very strong team-mate. I mean, we’ve long talked about the qualities of Carlos. And the fact is, Carlos probably doesn’t quite have that edge of pace that Charles can show in qualifying.

“But, you look at Singapore last year and that really hit home to Charles. That was a race that Charles, you would have said, would have gone there as a favorite to win Singapore. He often goes there with a lot of confidence, and of course, for Carlos to nick that one under his nose, really hurt.

“And I think that sort of thing has made him focus on, ‘Okay, I really need to get the job done on Sunday’. And that’s not to say he never thought that, but it does mean you change your focus slightly if you take it away from, ‘Okay, we just need to get the best qualifying car we can and get a qualifying lap, and then it’ll all happen on a Sunday’.

“So I think you’re just seeing a better representation of Charles and of us as a race driver, as a race car, as a race team.”

Ferrari sit P3 in the Constructors’ Championship , 75 points behind leaders McLaren, while Leclerc holds the same position in the Drivers’ Championship, 86 points off leader Max Verstappen.

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