Singapore: The Race Seen from the Pits

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Winner

Mark Webber – 11th (after penalty)

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « It’s a fantastic result for Sebastian and the team to win in Singapore. It’s a victory that comes at the right time for both championships. It’s unfortunate that Lewis had to retire while leading, we know how that feels and it’s never pleasant. Nevertheless, Sebastian had an incredible pace throughout the weekend and it’s a shame in a way, because I’m sure they could have had a great duel for the remainder of the Grand Prix. With Mark, we decided to go for a three-stop strategy and it worked quite well; then there was the first safety car intervention and, having only made one stop, we knew he couldn’t make it to the end with his tires, so we took a gamble and stayed out. Then the strategy was ruined by the second safety car intervention following the crash between Schumacher and Vergne. We had to bring him back into the pits, which caused him to drop down (in the standings). His recovery was really good afterward. »

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McLaren

Jenson Button – 2nd

Lewis Hamilton – Retirement (gearbox)

**Martin Whitmarsh – Team Principal:** Before his race was cut short on lap 23 due to a gearbox problem, Lewis was driving towards what could have been a perfect end to a weekend where our pace was consistently sensational. Clearly, for him not being able to score the 25 points that his pace seemed to promise was a great disappointment for all of us within the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. But, as viewers around the world could see from his post-race interviews, Lewis is a fighter and he is not going to give up. Neither are we.

There are still six Grand Prix to be contested this season – which equals a potential of 150 points for a driver – and you can be sure that Lewis will try to get as close as possible to this goal of 150 points. For the constructors’ championship as well, the McLaren team remains in the race – largely supported by the 18 points secured thanks to Jenson’s second place today. We will continue to push. See you in Suzuka.

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 3rd

Felipe Massa – 8th

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: « This has been a very difficult weekend, but the final result can be seen as positive. It’s true that Fernando’s lead over the second has decreased, but it’s also true that the Spaniard has gained points on three of his rivals.

Regarding the Constructors’ Championship, the situation is roughly the same as before: the leader is slightly further ahead, but the second place is a bit closer. Today’s performance was clearly better than what we saw during qualifying, also in terms of tire behavior. We were unlucky: but without the first lap puncture, Felipe could certainly have finished much better, and the first safety car intervention clearly wasn’t favorable.

There are still six Grand Prix left before the end of the season, and we clearly need to make a step forward in terms of performance, because we can no longer afford to rely on the misfortune of others. Where we need to improve the most is on circuits that require the most downforce. That being said, we must not overreact because it is better to introduce a few new features rather than many. This is an area where we need to improve, and it will be one of our priorities in the coming days. The other, which has always been our first priority, will be reliability: the further the championship progresses, the more you pay dearly for the slightest mistake.

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Force India

Paul di Resta – 4th

Nico Hülkenberg – 14th

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: It’s a superb day for the team and especially for Paul, who should be very proud of his result. He demonstrated very mature driving and took advantage of the car’s great form. The safety car played in his favor, and for a moment, we even thought a podium might be possible. We were only a few seconds from Alonso, and we could have gained the upper hand over Ferrari. In any case, the 12 points will give us a boost in the championship, particularly in extending the lead over Williams and closing the gap on Sauber.

I am disappointed that things did not go as well for Nico because we had a fast car today and could have left with more points. The safety car cost him places, and there was no way to recover them afterward.

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Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – 5th

Michael Schumacher – Abandon (collision)

Ross Brawn, Team Director: « It was a difficult race and I am delighted that the team did a good job tonight. Nico had a great race and our strategy worked well for him with five places gained compared to his starting position. There was some damage to his car following contact in the first lap as the downforce levels were lower than expected, so it was really a great performance from him given the circumstances. Michael’s race was going well until the incident that led to his retirement. It was a series of unusual circumstances so we will need to study the data in detail to find out what happened. Thank you to the whole team for their hard work in difficult conditions this weekend. With the updates brought for this race, the car has improved, but we are still not where we want to be. »

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Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – 6th

Romain Grosjean – 7th

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: The weekend started badly but the team made a good recovery. The qualifying was a bit frustrating given the performances in Q1 and the first part of Q2. But in the end, we couldn’t reach our target. The race pace of both cars was good, and even though we were unlucky with the first safety car, our strategy worked well. After a difficult weekend for us, Kimi remains third in the drivers’ standings and we haven’t lost too much ground on McLaren and Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. The fact that we feel our lack of performance here as unexpected shows our ambitions. Our priority for the rest of the season will be to ensure we occupy the position we know we are capable of from the start of each weekend.

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 9th

Jean-Eric Vergne – Retired (collision)

Franz Tost – Team Principal: This race confirms the positive trend started in Monza, which proved that we were capable of scoring points. Daniel brought us points, but Jean-Eric was also in the Top 10 until the collision. Both our drivers did a great job: Daniel fought well with his compatriot Webber in the final laps, while Jean-Eric also delivered solid performances as he started on this demanding track. The team has successfully improved the car over the last three days. Therefore, Jean-Eric’s retirement is offset by our unexpected competitiveness on this track. We are very much looking forward to traveling to Japan and Korea with renewed optimism.

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Sauber

Sergio Pérez – 10th (after Webber’s penalty)

Kamui Kobayashi – 13th

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Operations: The main issue during this weekend was our pace. We weren’t as fast as we hoped we would be. On top of that, we were unlucky with the safety car. The cars on a three-stop strategy were able to benefit, but Kamui stopped two laps earlier, and for Sergio, who was on a two-stop strategy, it was the worst timing. We had to fit the Super Soft tires, so it was too early. We tried to keep him on track to gain positions, which worked, but he then struggled on the restart. Then there was the second safety car, where we had no choice but to stop him. We lost several places there.

Overall, it was a difficult weekend and we must now draw the right conclusions from it.

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Marussia

Timo Glock – 12th

Charles Pic – 16th [after penalty]

John Booth, Team Director:

« It was an extremely complicated race with many variables, ranging from high tire degradation to various safety car interventions and also included a brush with the wall on the 7th lap that could have changed everything. Regarding the result, we are really delighted with Timo’s 12th place, but Charles’ performance in the race, before his penalty was added, also shows that even with our two drivers on different strategies, the team has a grasp of the race for the 10th place in the championship. It’s an important race for the three new teams.

When looking in detail, Timo’s race was perfectly executed. Unfortunately, he touched the wall with the right rear very early at turn 19, which put us off strategy as we had to bring him in earlier to check the right rear suspension. Everything seemed fine, and he continued; however, we decided to revert to what could have been a three-stop race. Ultimately, the safety car interventions made it a two-stop race, even if we had to calm our nerves with what was a long final stint of 34 laps. Charles delivered another solid performance in difficult conditions. His strategy, using the safety car interventions, was good. Overall, it was a day when the engineers and mechanics did everything to perfection. It’s really great, and the improvement in the car’s pace came from the hard work done in Banbury and by our engine supplier Cosworth in Northampton.

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Caterham

Heïkki Kovalainen – 15th

Vitaly Petrov – 19th

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: « It was not a good day for us. We made decisions that cost us in the end, but we will study this in detail to learn from this rough patch. I said yesterday that there were encouraging signs and I still believe that, but now we need to come together and fight even harder in the remaining races. »

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HRT

Pedro de la Rosa – 17th

Narain Karthikeyan – Abandon (off track)

Luis Perez-Sala, Team Principal: « It was a tough race because we were on the edge and had to manage the brake and engine temperatures from the start. The drivers did a good job. It’s a shame that Narain had an accident and was forced to retire. Pedro fought for 15th place until the end, but the high tire degradation relegated him to 17th. However, it was exciting to be in the heart of the action, and we are very happy about that. We are now going to Japan where we won’t suffer as much from the temperatures, and where we’ll have a better idea of where we stand to continue our work in this direction. »

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Williams

Bruno Senna – 18th

Pastor Maldonado – Retirement (hydraulic leak)

Laurent Debout, Engine Manager: « Today’s session can only be described as disappointing as both our cars retired due to mechanical issues. Pastor had to stop because of a hydraulic leak, while a suspected KERS problem forced Bruno to withdraw towards the end of the race.

Pastor had a flawless weekend and Bruno was impressive in the race as he carved his way through the pack from the twenty-second place on the grid.

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