Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have responded to Isack Hadjar’s claim that Max Verstappen would have won the Singapore Grand Prix driving a Ferrari.

Verstappen has won back-to-back races heading into the United States Grand Prix, though Hadjar believed it was Ferrari which had held the upper hand around Marina Bay last time out, a claim Leclerc decried as “nonsense.”

Hadjar’s Max Verstappen Ferrari claim rejected as ‘nonsense’ by Leclerc as Hamilton responds

Verstappen won his first Singapore Grand Prix after qualifying just ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton, with the two Ferraris taking different approaches on strategy which, ultimately, did not match the four-time World Champion on the night.

It was Hadjar’s belief, however, that Ferrari should have held the cards going into the race a fortnight ago.

“I think the car is still very hard to drive,” Hadjar explained.

“In Malaysia, it was dominant, but I don’t think in Singapore it was the fastest car. That’s what I believe.

“I think if you put Max in the Ferrari, he would have won the race with more margin. That’s my opinion. In Singapore, I think [Ferrari] was the fastest car.”

Asked for what made him come to this conclusion, Hadjar added: “I mean, [Verstappen] qualified on pole by half a tenth. Ferrari didn’t have new tyres in the race. Not on the soft, so this has an effect as well.

“So, he put all the chances on his side, and he made a difference in Q3, and that was enough.”

The Ferrari drivers, for their part, do not see it the same way, with Leclerc particularly dismissive of Hadjar’s assessment.

“Well, first of all, I think it’s nonsense to start saying these kind of things,” Leclerc replied.

“I mean, Isack has no idea what kind of car we drive, and I have no idea what kind of car he drives.

“I think it’s such a tight field that is very, very difficult for us to predict.

“Yes, of course, we kind of have an idea on how we will be on this track, but when you are speaking about such fine margins, it relies really on just optimising your package, and that has a much bigger influence than what we kind of expect in terms of cars.”

Hamilton spoke highly of Hadjar as a driver, but also fundamentally disagreed with his view.

“Firstly, I think Isack is an amazing driver, [but] we’re going to have different opinions there,” Hamilton said.

“Ultimately, Red Bull have done an amazing job for many, many years. They continuously, I think, surprise me, and I’ll fully put my hand up many, many years ago when I was younger, I was like, ‘There’s no way they’re going to be able to do what these other teams like McLaren with all that heritage, Ferrari with all that heritage [can do]’, but they have and they’ve proved me wrong, and they’ve continued to have amazing success over the years.

“This one is the engine. I was like, ‘There’s no way that anyone’s going to be able to build a better engine than what Mercedes, for example, or Ferrari are capable of doing with the resources they have and the experience they have and the IP [intellectual property]. And yet again, they proved everybody wrong again, and they built the best engine. They’ve had the best engine this year.

“Obviously, they had a little bit of a wobbly start, but like you saw last year, they’ve got an amazing car. They’ve got great drivers. Clearly, got great leadership, and I think they will be very, very hard to [beat].

“They were just as quick through all the corners as us in the last race, and you know that’s been our strength. So, they’ve matched us now through the corners, and they’re three, four tenths quicker down the straights.

“We have a very small upgrade this weekend. It’s less than a tenth, it’s like half a tenth, so I don’t think that propels us forwards to be able to necessarily challenge that deficit.”