By Alan Baldwin
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Isack Hadjar riled rival Charles Leclerc by suggesting Ferrari had the fastest car and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen would have won this month's Singapore Grand Prix by an even greater margin if he had been driving for the Italian team.
Leclerc, who finished second in the race and 7.3 seconds behind four-time Formula One champion Verstappen, dismissed the Frenchman's claims at the US Grand Prix on Thursday.
"I think it's nonsense to start saying these
kinds of things. Isack has no idea what kind of car we drive, and I have no idea what kind of car he drives," the Monegasque told reporters at Austin's Circuit of the Americas.
Hadjar, who finished 10th in Singapore, said the Red Bull car was still very hard to drive even if Verstappen has now won the last two races.
"In Malaysia, it (the Red Bull) 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. So that's my opinion. In Singapore, I think it (the Ferrari) was the fastest car," he said.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri said both rivals were stronger than the reigning champions.
"I think it wasn't a surprise that Ferrari were very strong in Singapore. I think on the data analysis, they're always the quickest or joint-quickest or outright quickest in basically every corner this year," the Australian said.
"But they lose on all the straights, whether that's from drag or power, I don't know ... but we've expected them (Ferrari) to be the benchmark at other circuits and it's not turned out to be the case. I think they're very strong. I think clearly Red Bull was very strong. Both stronger than us for sure.
"I think over the last few weeks Red Bull has definitely become the most consistently quick car. But I think each weekend the challenges are kind of rotating."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Chris Reese)
