Sebastian Vettel has played down any specific reason for Charles Leclerc’s recent domination in qualifying at Ferrari.
The Monegasque has started ahead of his teammate at all of the past seven races and leads the Saturday head-to-head 8-6, including four pole positions to the German’s one.
Vettel though believes a combination of factors are behind Leclerc’s advantage, with one simply being his out-and-out speed.
“No. I think first you need to be fair and say that he is very quick,” he admitted on Thursday.
“Second, I think we are judging qualifying where I didn’t have the best run. A couple of qualifying sessions where I didn’t take part in Austria and Germany, then Monza only half, but I don’t think there is anything particular standing out.
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“I think I just to be fair and admit that if he out-qualifies me then he is doing a better job, but then you need to look at the reasons why.”
Singapore may well offer Vettel the chance to snap that streak at a circuit where he’s won four times and started from pole twice.
The 32-year-old also thinks it is one of the few venues where drivers can still make the difference.
“I think in our sport it’s probably one of the worst ones for seeing how much of a difference we can make [as drivers],” he claimed.
“Some people believe we can make a lot of difference, others will say the opposite. I guess we are driving the car and if we were not in the car it would be in the garage so it makes a huge difference.
“[Singapore], it’s a circuit where you need to have trust in the car, you need to feel comfortable as a driver to unleash more lap time,” he noted.
“It’s a street circuit and there’s less room for errors.”