Charles Leclerc has strongly rejected Isack Hadjar’s claim that Max Verstappen would have won the Singapore Grand Prix by an even bigger margin in a Ferrari, dismissing the young Frenchman’s assessment as “complete nonsense”.
Hadjar suggested ahead of the United States Grand Prix that Red Bull did not have the fastest car in Singapore, arguing that Verstappen’s victory was largely down to the four-time world champion’s exceptional driving rather than the performance of his machinery. Leclerc, however, was unimpressed by the suggestion that Ferrari would have been even more competitive in Verstappen’s hands.
Leclerc rejects Hadjar’s assessment of Verstappen’s victory
Verstappen controlled the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position, managing his tyres effectively before crossing the finish line 7.335 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli completed the podium in third place.
Although Leclerc secured second place, he was unable to mount a serious challenge for victory. The Ferrari driver struggled in the dirty air behind Verstappen, making it difficult to get close enough to put the Red Bull under sustained pressure.
Hadjar nevertheless believed Verstappen’s performance demonstrated that the Dutchman could have achieved an even more commanding result with a Ferrari.
Leclerc firmly disagreed when asked about the comments.
“I think it is complete nonsense to make such statements,” the Ferrari driver responded. “Isack has no idea how our car feels, and I don’t know how his car drives either.”
The Monegasque’s response highlighted the difficulty of comparing cars and drivers across different teams without experiencing the machinery first-hand. While Verstappen’s performance earned widespread praise, Leclerc made clear that he did not accept Hadjar’s hypothetical assessment of Ferrari’s potential.
Ferrari also faced challenges in Singapore
Leclerc’s second-place finish represented a strong result for Ferrari, but the race was less straightforward for his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
The seven-time world champion eventually finished sixth after an extended stint on soft tyres left him vulnerable during the closing stages. The contrasting fortunes of the two Ferrari drivers underlined how tyre management and race execution could influence the final result.
Verstappen, meanwhile, converted pole position into victory with a controlled performance that left his rivals unable to mount a serious challenge.
Hadjar’s comments therefore raised a familiar question in Formula 1: how much of a victory should be attributed to the driver, and how much to the car?
Leclerc’s response suggested that such comparisons become particularly difficult when drivers are discussing machinery they have never raced.
Leclerc warns of tight competition ahead of Austin
Looking ahead to the United States Grand Prix, Leclerc was reluctant to make firm predictions about the competitive order.
The Ferrari driver believes the leading teams have become increasingly difficult to separate during the second half of the season, leaving relatively little room for confident forecasts.
“The field is so close together that it is incredibly difficult to make predictions,” explained Leclerc. “Of course, we have an idea of how we will perform on a certain circuit, but when the differences are so small, it is all about optimizing the entire package.”
According to Leclerc, car setup, preparation and execution could prove decisive when the performance gap between teams is minimal. A small improvement across a race weekend could potentially make the difference between fighting for pole position and starting further down the grid.
He also identified Mercedes as a team that might yet deliver a stronger performance than its recent results had suggested.
“The only exception during the recent races is perhaps Mercedes. We had expected them to perform stronger than was ultimately the case.”
Leclerc believed Mercedes could become a serious contender if the team finally unlocked the performance he had anticipated.
“If Mercedes manages to finally reach the level of performance we have expected from them in the last few races, then I think they can take a lead over the rest. If that doesn’t happen, it will be particularly exciting.”
Antonelli delivers Mercedes a timely boost
Mercedes subsequently provided an indication of its potential when Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the United States Grand Prix in a closely contested qualifying session.
The result offered an encouraging sign for the team after Leclerc had questioned whether Mercedes was delivering the performance expected of it.
Antonelli’s pole position also demonstrated why the competitive picture remained difficult to predict, with small differences between the leading teams capable of producing significant changes in the order.
While Leclerc’s prediction about Mercedes finding additional performance appeared timely, the qualifying result did not settle the broader debate about the relative strengths of Ferrari and Red Bull.
Hadjar’s comments about Verstappen’s Singapore victory remain a matter of opinion, but Leclerc made his position unmistakably clear: comparisons between Formula 1 cars are far more complicated than simply imagining what one driver could achieve in another team’s machinery.
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