Charles Leclerc understood call from Ferrari "a lot more" following Singapore GP

Leclerc was leading the race comfortably after starting on pole for a third successive race; but his team-mate Sebastian Vettel pitted before him and when Leclerc did get called in, Vettel was ahead of him.

The 21-year-old two-time GP winner has revealed that the undercut wasn't part of Ferrari's plan before the race. He described the situation, that denied him another race win, as "very frustrating".

"I don't think I could have done much things better or differently," Leclerc said, as cited by Motorsport.com. "The only thing, probably, is I will ask a bit more about the strategy around me.

"Because I was not aware, so I don't know if I should have pushed a bit earlier during my first stint. I don't know, we have plenty of data anyway and I will analyse it.

"As I said in the car, it was very frustrating, but now out of the car, I understand a lot more the whole situation. I am extremely happy for the whole team, very happy for Seb too. He deserves it, and now we'll move forward.

"Obviously, I wish I was one step higher (on the podium), but it's part of life sometimes it goes that way and I'll bounce back stronger in Russia."