Leclerc finishes second in Singapore but demands more Ferrari upgrades to close Red Bull gap

Charles Leclerc crossed the line second at the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, holding off Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli in third but unable to overhaul Max Verstappen’s Red Bull after tyre degradation cost him in the final stint at Marina Bay.

Leclerc had started from the front row alongside polesitter Verstappen and matched the Red Bull driver for pace in the opening phase. A mid-race safety car prompted Ferrari to diverge strategically from their rival, and Leclerc immediately attacked on the restart rather than settling into a conservative rhythm behind Verstappen.

“I believed in it until the very end, but I pushed a lot at the beginning of that last stint and then degraded a bit more than the others,” Leclerc said after the race. “I gave it all, and I don’t regret anything. I don’t think there was much more to do today, apart from maybe a bit more aggressive at the start. That’s the way it is.”

Despite the result representing a significant haul of Constructors’ Championship points — Ferrari finishing well clear of both Mercedes and McLaren — Leclerc was candid about where the SF-26 still falls short. Asked whether Singapore proved Ferrari had eliminated the gap to Red Bull, he offered a measured response.

“I still feel that way,” Leclerc said of the performance deficit. “It’s true that we brought some small new parts to the car, which maybe helped us to do another step forward, but it’s not enough, and we still got to bring some new things to the car to be at that level. But I think today we had a good pace overall.”

The admission underlines the challenge facing Ferrari heading into the remainder of the season. While the Scuderia can take encouragement from running Verstappen so close on a circuit that rewards mechanical grip and tyre management over raw straight-line speed, Leclerc’s call for further development suggests the team does not yet regard the gap as closed.

Antonelli’s third place meanwhile marked a strong showing for the Mercedes rookie, who kept the pressure on Leclerc throughout the closing laps without being able to find a way past.