Charles Leclerc's brutal Ferrari assessment is bad news for Lewis Hamilton

Charles Leclerc has admitted that Ferrari are now 'solidly' the fourth-fastest team on the Formula One grid, trailing McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes, whilst forecasting a 'long end to the season' for the Italian constructor. This spells trouble for Lewis Hamilton, who remains without a podium finish since joining the Scuderia.

The Singapore Grand Prix proved another nightmare weekend for Fred Vasseur's outfit. Ferrari rocked up to the Marina Bay Street Circuit harbouring hopes of battling for race victory, yet could only manage fifth and sixth in qualifying, well adrift of the leading trio. During Sunday's race, matters deteriorated even further.

Following an encouraging finale to the race on soft compound tyres, Hamilton was struck by a significant brake problem. The Brit was left crawling around the circuit for the closing stages, haemorrhaging lap time at a frightening pace and cutting corners desperately to avoid the barriers.

He limped across the finish line merely four-tenths ahead of eighth-placed Fernando Alonso, only to drop behind the Aston Martin ace after officials slapped him with a five-second time penalty. Leclerc, meanwhile, endured the identical problem, albeit to a reduced degree.

Reflecting on the team's position following a torrid weekend, Leclerc revealed to Sky Sports F1: "I was expecting more pace for the rest of the race, which was not the case. Unfortunately, we are now the fourth team and solidly the fourth team.

"Quite far behind the top three. Mercedes managed to do the same step that Red Bull did five, six races ago, four races ago, whatever... and now they've managed to do that step. We didn't manage to do that, so it is going to be a long end of the season."

Hamilton remains without a podium finish in Ferrari red with six races left in the 2025 campaign.

In fact, the Briton has already secured the unwelcome distinction of competing in more Grands Prix for the Scuderia without a top-three result than any other driver, though his sprint triumph in Shanghai provides at least one bright spot from his maiden year with the Italian outfit.

When questioned whether he was experiencing similar difficulties to Hamilton, Leclerc revealed: "Oh, not [just] to the end - it had been like that from lap seven or lap eight of the race, so I had to manage a lot, and for sure there is some lap time in it.

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"However, I don't want to blame it on that because it is a track where everybody has to manage the brake to some extent - I think Lewis and I probably a lot more than the others - and we paid the price for it.

"And I think also the fact that maybe Lewis, having more grip with the new tyres, was pushing more on the brakes, as is always the case, and that puts him in a very difficult situation. Because when you have the grip and you see the P5, you try everything to get there, but the brake couldn't handle that."