Leclerc airs frustration at error which threw Singapore qualifying 'in the bin'

Charles Leclerc has bemoaned Ferrari's tyre strategy in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying which "threw everything in the bin."

Leclerc had appeared Lando Norris's closest rival throughout practice, but Q3 was turned into an effective one-lap shootout after Carlos Sainz crashed the sister SF-24 in the opening minutes.

For his sole lap, Leclerc then was out-qualified on merit by the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, before the time was wiped for exceeding track limits at Turn 2. 

It means he will start in ninth place, ahead of Sainz in 10th, as the frustrated Monegasque urged an investigation into the lack of temperatures.

"I mean Q1 and Q2 was going well, and was hopeful after FP3, but when I got out of the box in Q3, the front tyres were way cooler," he told media including RacingNews365.

"We do so much preparation all weekend for this one lap in qualifying, which is as important as Monaco, and get out of the box and we are way too cool on the front tyres and it puts our weekend in a very bad place.

"We were expecting to have a strong qualifying, but then we threw everything in the bin with the Q3 tyre temperature issues. We have to investigate."

Leclerc's frustration

Detailing the experience, Leclerc explained how his front C5 compound tyres were simply too cold, which led to the off that had his lap-time deleted.

"We don't know the exact issue yet, but we started the lap with two cold front tyres, I locked up into Turn 1 and that was it," he said.

"I never had the grip I wanted, I won't go into the details, but we are speaking about one degree or two degrees maximum to get it right or completely wrong."

When pushed by RacingNews365, Leclerc signalled that he thought second was maybe possible, but that pole was out of reach.