Singapore – Francophone Report: Disappointment for Leclerc, Gasly Fired Up
The French-speaking drivers had a great race this weekend. Finishing 2nd, Charles Leclerc lost the victory due to strategy. Pierre Gasly had a very good race and made multiple overtakes. A less positive outcome for Romain Grosjean, who got involved in a collision.
Charles Leclerc: 2nd (1st on the grid)
The Monegasque continues to surprise this season. On Saturday, he secured his fifth pole position, more than Hamilton and Bottas, who each have 4 front-row starts. He was ahead of the five-time British world champion and his teammate, proving that the improvements made by Ferrari were working.
Leclerc kept the lead of the race for more than 20 laps, always more or less threatened by Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, which couldn’t find any weaknesses in the car ahead. Stopping on the 21st lap, a lap after Sebastian Vettel, the number 16 driver was overtaken.
The latecomers, along with the triple safety car deployment, diminished the Monegasque’s chances of winning with each lap. It must be said that the German world champion perfectly managed his restarts and knew how to maintain a gap that kept him out of reach.
Charles Leclerc may feel betrayed by his team, but he played by the rules and didn’t try to overtake Vettel at the end of the race. As a result, he secured Ferrari’s first one-two finish of the season. He even takes third place in the championship from Max Verstappen.
I did everything I was told. I slowed down at the beginning to push later but I didn’t expect the undercut, especially from Sebastian. I don’t know how that happened. Looking at the positive, we finished 1 and 2 for the team which is super important. After that, it’s obvious that I’m disappointed for myself.
Pierre Gasly: 8th (11th on the grid)
Unlike Daniil Kvyat, the Frenchman managed to reach Q2. Originally 13th, the penalties imposed on Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez placed him 11th on the grid. Toro Rosso gambled on starting the race on hard tires in order to extend his first stint as long as possible.
He gained a position right from the start but got stuck behind Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, which was on softer tires. By the 23rd lap, the Norman was in second place, thanks to pit stops from drivers who had started the race on soft tires. Still within the DRS range of Antonio Giovinazzi, the Toro Rosso driver couldn’t find a way to overtake the Italian. Gasly was overtaken on the 30th lap by Sebastian Vettel, where the two almost made contact.
Stopping on the 32nd lap for yellow-banded tires, he fully took advantage of this to overtake three cars on the outside. Including a particularly tight one with Lance Stroll where the tires of both cars grazed each other. Ultimately, the French driver finished in 8th place, bringing 4 valuable points to the Faenza team.
« It was a crazy Grand Prix. We tried to save the tires at the beginning to attack at the end, but with the Safety Car, we lost 2-3 positions. Then I attacked with medium tires and had some great battles at the end. I’m happy with my race and the work we’re doing with Toro Rosso.
Romain Grosjean: 11th (17th on the grid)
Just renewed for 2020, Romain Grosjean experienced a relatively complicated Singapore Grand Prix. Qualifying 17th, the Frenchman got caught in Q1, unlike his garage neighbor who secured the fourteenth place.
Until the 36th lap, the race for the Haas driver was very calm. He was lingering at the back of the pack, sandwiched between the two Williams cars. At the 6th corner, driver number 8 and George Russell collided. While trying to overtake on the outside, the Briton left too little space for Grosjean, who couldn’t avoid the contact. Forced to change his wing, his race was ruined. What a shame, knowing that points were clearly possible this weekend.
