Fernando Alonso has claimed that Ferrari retained the fastest car and the pace to win the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix had both drivers started further up the grid.
Having won in Monza and seized pole position in Baku, Ferrari was tipped to continue its strong recent run and emerge as McLaren‘s main contender under the lights.
Carlos Sainz crashed at the last turn in Q3 as he was building towards his timed lap, while Charles Leclerc rued an issue with tyre temperatures compromising his run.
READ MORE: Charles Leclerc: Ferrari ‘paid the price’ for Singapore F1 qualifying setback
With Singapore remaining a challenging track to overtake despite the extra DRS zone this term, Ferrari’s prospects in the race were restricted to landing points at best.
Leclerc managed to mount an impressive drive to gain five places to come home in fifth, with Sainz recovering from a poor start with an earlier stop to end in seventh.
Alonso, who lost a spot to Sainz through the pits and Leclerc on track, has expressed that his Aston Martin wasn’t a match to a Ferrari that had race-winning potential.
“The Ferraris were I mean they should have won this race,” Alonso, who took eighth, told media including Motorsport Week.
“Probably, you know, they were the fastest car this weekend, so, you know, it was not my race.”
Ferrari had McLaren-contending pace in Singapore
Ferrari’s absence at the sharp end made McLaren’s time easier as Lando Norris remained unopposed en route to a commanding 20-second win over Max Verstappen.
Like McLaren boss Andrea Stella observed, Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur pinpointed that Leclerc’s charge in the second stint was equal to Norris’ lap times.
“The last 25 laps I think we did the same time as Lando,” Vasseur pointed out post-race.
“Perhaps he was doing some push-cool-push to recharge the battery and to try the fastest lap, I didn’t follow.
“But at least we were into the pace, and it’s encouraging.
“But [our] target was not to match Lando today, it was to come back, to score points and on this I think we had a good recovery.”
Ferrari rues qualifying disaster thwarting win hopes
Vasseur has conceded that the Maranello-based squad’s chances weekend came undone with the disastrous qualifying session that resigned the side to the fifth row.
“If you miss something this weekend, it’s not Friday, it’s not Sunday, it’s in between,” the Frenchman admitted.
“Clearly that until Q2 we were into the pace with Lando and we didn’t do a lap in Q3 with two cars.
“It means that then we have to start from ninth and 10th and in Singapore, it’s almost done.
“But it’s probably the best that we could achieve today, perhaps that we could get George [Russell].
“But it was the maximum. But as you say, it’s not today that we miss something, it’s clearly yesterday Q3.”
