It was a case of damage limitation for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team at the Singapore Grand Prix, as Charles Leclerc finished a place ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton after a gruelling race.

Starting on the medium compound Pirelli tyres, Leclerc made a good start in jumping ahead of Hamilton and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.

With Leclerc and Hamilton coming in for hards on laps 22 and 25 respectively, they would up in fifth and seventh with Hamilton struggling in Antonelli’s dirty air. A stop for the red banded softs for the Englishman saw a late charge that allowed him past his teammate.

Lewis Hamilton leads Charles Leclerc during the 2025 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, 18th round of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship from October 3 to 5, 2025 on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Singapore – Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI

But with Hamilton struggling with brake temperature issues before being handed a five second penalty for track infringements, eighth place behind his teammate and Fernando Alonso was a bitter late pill to swallow.

“It has been a challenging couple of days but there were definitely some positives to take,” Hamilton is quoted on the official Ferrari F1 website. “I’ve felt good in the car all weekend and we had a strong final third of the race. The Softs gave us great attacking pace and meant I could close down a big gap to the cars ahead, but unfortunately a brake issue cost us the overtake and the chance to score more points.

“We had the potential to be further ahead this weekend, starting from qualifying, so the focus now is on maximising what we have going into Austin and executing cleanly to bring home as many points as possible.”

Lewis Hamilton during the 2025 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, 18th round of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship from October 3 to 5, 2025 on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Singapore – Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI

On the positive side, the double points finish does mean that Ferrari remains just in touch with rivals Mercedes in the battle for second in the constructors’ standings. With five races remaining, they are 27 points adrift.

“It was a really difficult race, unfortunately, a reflection of the whole weekend,” added Leclerc. “Right from Friday, we struggled to find the right feeling with the car and we never managed to put everything together in the way we would have wanted.

“Today, in traffic it was impossible to move forward, as we also had to deal with cooling problems. Sadly, where we finished reflects where we are today.

“Over the past two races we have encountered various difficulties that we must now analyse in detail, so that we can start improving again. The aim is to be better prepared and ready to fight with our main rivals in two weeks’ time in the United States.”

SINGAPORE GP TECH TALK WITH CRAIG SCARBOROUGH

The Singapore GP offers one of the biggest tests for the drivers on the calendar for a variety of reasons. Because the race takes place at night, the drivers effectively have to adapt quickly back to European time and adjust their body clocks accordingly from the flight over from Baku.

That’s not all the drivers have to cope with. The extreme humidity and soaring cockpit temperatures mean the drivers have to take on plenty of fluid to compensate for the up to 3kg of body weight they can lose in the race.

Click here to read tech guru Craig Scarborough’s comprehensive guide to the mechanics and tech of the Singapore Grand Prix.

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