"I wasn't close enough"- Charles Leclerc on what prevented him from overtaking Sergio Perez at 2022 F1 Singapore GP

Charles Leclerc felt that he was never close enough to pull off an overtake against Sergio Perez at the 2022 F1 Singapore GP. The Ferrari driver had valiantly challenged the Red Bull driver in the period after the second safety car. The challenge did not bear fruit though as the Red Bull driver got into his groove and started pulling away from Leclerc.

When questioned on why he could not get ahead of Sergio Perez even when the Red Bull driver locked up a few times, Leclerc said:

"Well I wasn't close enough unfortunately, whenever he had those lockups. I don't think it was especially down to how ready were his tyres. I think he did few mistakes at the beginning, which is again normal in those conditions, but yeah, I wasn't close enough to actually attempt an overtake unfortunately."

Charles Leclerc did reveal his surprise when Sergio Perez started pulling out the gap on him as soon as he lost the DRS.

"I was quite surprised because as soon as I lost the DRS I think it was exactly at the time when Checo’s tyres started to work properly and unfortunately then I lost it a little bit."

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I could not risk overtaking under braking: Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc did, however, admit that he was trying to keep things a bit safe and did not want to pull off an overtake in the braking zone. Earlier in the race, while trying to pull off an overtake on Lando Norris, Max Verstappen went off track and ruined his race. Charles Leclerc said:

"I couldn't really go on the braking zone and brake later because I didn't really know how was the track on the inside and I didn't want to take that risk."

"I had one lap where I was really close and I actually thought about going in the inside and braking later, but for me, it was not worth it so I was just waiting for the right opportunity. That unfortunately didn't arrive at the end."

This was the second race in a row where Leclerc finished second from starting on pole. The same had happened to the Ferrari driver in Monza. Interestingly, he faced a similar fate in the 2019 F1 Singapore GP as well, where he finished second after starting from pole.

With the F1 circus heading to Suzuka next for the Japanese GP, the Monegasque will be looking to improve on his P2 finish from The Garden City.