By Nick Mulvenney
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Charles Leclerc says Ferrari fans should not be expecting any miracles at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix and rates the Italian team’s chances of winning a race this season as negligible.
Ferrari ran McLaren close in the constructors’ championship last year but, trailing the champions-elect by 337 points with seven races remaining in this campaign, are resigned to battling it out with Mercedes and Red Bull for second place.
Leclerc has managed four third places and one second this year but thinks it unlikely that he or teammate Lewis Hamilton will stand on the top step of the podium before the season is out.
“I think it’s very unlikely again just because, unfortunately, the McLaren is also very strong when it’s warm,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“So compared to our main competitors, we might be stronger (but) compared to the McLaren, I don’t think we’ll ever have the upper hand.
“But, never say never. I mean, I’m looking forward to see where we are this weekend, and I think maybe another chance might be Vegas, where things are so strange on this track, time management, etc, can be a big thing in the race.
“So maybe that will be an opportunity as well, but very little opportunity.”
Singapore was named a “heat hazard” race by the FIA on Thursday but even the prospect of higher temperatures, conditions that have favoured Ferrari this year, did not fill Leclerc with confidence.
“I don’t think we can expect any miracles,” said the Monegasque, who finished ninth in the last race in Azerbaijan.
“I don’t think that we expect to be more competitive. If anything, I felt like McLaren will have even more of an advantage on a track like this, so we might be a bit further away to McLaren.”
Failing to win a race this season would be a hefty blow to the sport’s most famous marque and Leclerc said everyone at the team was hurting.
“I think we are all disappointed as a team, especially when with Ferrari, you are always targeting to be back on top and not fighting for second or fourth place,” he said.
“We are not happy. I’m not happy, and we’ve got to do better. And that’s very clear for every member of the team.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Toby Davis)
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