Team reaction after race in Singapore (part 1)

Stefano Domenicali: "This is an extraordinary result, which is down to an exceptional performance from Fernando, who once again proved what he is made of, in terms of driving ability and his mental attitude. The first and most important brick in this particular wall was put in place yesterday with pole position: if we had not started from the front, it would most likely have been impossible to overtake the Red Bull which proved to be so strong on track today, especially in the second half of the race. Qualifying was the key, this time in a negative way, to Felipe’s race also: ninth place is definitely not a result that matches his or the car’s potential, but starting last, it would have been hard to do better on a track where overtaking is very difficult. The team matched the performance of the driver, working perfectly in managing all the key moments and a major component of this victory is obviously down to everyone in Maranello, who gave their all to bring the F10 up to this level. As is traditional, I want to thank all our partners: the title sponsor, Santander and the technical partners, first and foremost Shell, although I would actually like to name all of them. I am not the sort to feel defeated in difficult moments, but all the same I am delighted when we have happy ones like this. We have picked up two very nice wins in a row on tracks with completely different characteristics, but we are still behind in both championships: we must continue to work like this, if at all possible, multiplying our efforts to try and fight all the way to the finish. The maths will be done only at the end, on 14th November in Abu Dhabi."

Fernando Alonso: "This win is very significant. We wanted to confirm our success in Monza at a completely different type of track and we succeeded at the end of a very hard and extremely stressful race, both for me and for the car, on a track that I like a lot and which is well suited to my driving style. After the earlier gift - the Easter surprise, as I called it - of getting pole yesterday, today it was important first and foremost to make a good start: that is what happened, even if Vettel might have been slightly quicker away than me, but here the run to the first corner is not so long and so I was able to close the door and keep the lead. On the soft tyres, we were going very well, but on the hards, the Red Bull seemed to be quicker than us. The pit stop went off perfectly, both in terms of strategy and in the way it was done in pit lane. In the second part of the race, I tried to avoid taking any sort of risk, especially when getting past the backmarkers at the same time as the yellow flags were out. There are four races to go and the championship is very open. In Spa, Sebastian, Jenson and I came away empty handed, then in Monza it was Hamilton’s turn: the dance towards the title sees the contenders see-sawing up and down, although Mark is still holding on to a slight lead. We must stay calm and concentrate on our own job, without thinking about what the others are doing: what is certain is that we will leave nothing to chance, fighting right to the very end. The F10 has improved a lot thanks to the work of all our engineers in Maranello and here at the track, and I am happy for that because now we can be on the pace at every type of circuit. We are not considered favourites for the races that lie ahead of us, but none of them are anything to be frightened about."

Felipe Massa: "It was a very difficult race for me after everything that happened in qualifying yesterday. We chose a strategy similar to the one used for Fernando in Monaco, hoping for some help from a Safety Car which unfortunately, came out on track too early. So I was not able to overtake that many cars and then I found myself in a train behind Sutil and Hulkenberg: one or two laps later and I could have made up two or three places and had a different sort of race. The car was not too bad, given that I was always on the same set of hard tyres: only towards the end did the situation get worse and I could feel the tyre degradation which is why Kubica managed to get past me so easily. I can’t say I had much fun driving, given that I was always stuck behind another car. I had a new engine and now I only have three left which have each done one race, to rotate over the last four races of the season. I hope I will have more luck in those races than I have had this weekend!"

Chris Dyer: "A fantastic result thanks to an incredible performance from Fernando, first yesterday in qualifying and then today in the race. Honestly, I do not think we had an advantage in terms of performance over our rivals, but at least they did not seem to have enough of one to be able to overtake us comfortably. We had to get a clean start, doing quick laps when necessary, choosing the right moment for the pit stop and being ready to manage any eventual Safety Car periods: a lot of elements to put together to get the win and that’s how it turned out, with no mistakes made. All of this is also thanks to a team that worked very well, making the most of the potential of the car. As for Felipe, clearly he had to gamble on a Safety Car, given his grid position. Unfortunately, that did not work out well, because the race was neutralised too early: a few more laps and it would have been another story for him: all the same, a points finish is a good result, given the outlook at the start."

Sebastian Vettel: “Towards the end of the first stint my soft tyres were pretty much finished, so the car was sliding a lot. We came in on the same lap as Ferrari and unfortunately I made a little mistake at the pit stop; otherwise I think it would have been very close. That’s the story of the whole race. I tried to push Fernando as hard as I could into a mistake, but he didn’t make a major one and it’s hard to overtake here – it would have been too risky. In the end we got second and some good points. The most important thing is that the car was quick and competitive all weekend. There was something missing yesterday in qualifying, which is the only thing that affected us today. Some people had been commenting on our starts, but I had a very good start, so we made excellent progress with that. It’s good to get points for the team, it helps us a lot in the Constructors’ Championship and the Drivers’ Championship is still open.”

Mark Webber: “Our start was very good, so well done to the team for that. It was good for us to get away well, as it sets you up well for the race. I settled into the first stint and we had an early safety car. The team told me to pit, which I questioned, but they assured me it was the right thing. I wasn’t sure and knew it was going to be a long stint on the primes, but when we came out and re-queued behind the safety car I realised I was
in a reasonable position. I passed a few guys, then got to Rubens (Barrichello) who was driving very well and I couldn’t clear him. We then had another restart and it can be difficult to get away cleanly when you have back-markers involved. I got caught up behind one the Virgin cars, he was doing his best, but Lewis (Hamilton) got a good run on me and unfortunately we made contact. It’s obviously not desirable, as it was a key part of the race for me to maintain my position. Fernando (Alonso) and Sebastian (Vettel)
drove fantastic races today. They drove well all weekend and it was a good race for everyone to see, I’m very happy with third.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “First of all a fantastic team performance to get a
double podium with second and third. Both drivers drove excellent races today. We took a bold decision with Mark early on to stop him behind the pace car, which meant going a long way on the prime tyre. He managed to make it work by making some great passing moves and he had great pace. The incident with Lewis Hamilton was a racing incident. It seemed to be caused by a back-marker who cost Mark a lot of time and enabled Lewis to get a run. He squeezed Mark too much, so Mark didn’t have anywhere to go through the corner and there was contact. Sebastian made a good start and harried Fernando for
pretty much two hours. It’s very, very hard to overtake here in Singapore and he gave it his absolute best. We were going for the undercut, but unfortunately Ferrari covered us, which meant we had to overtake on-track. Sebastian continued to push Fernando all the way to the chequered flag. It’s a great team result on one of the hardest circuits on the calendar and we’ve extended our lead in the Constructors’ Championship and Mark has extended his lead in the Drivers’, with Sebastian closing in also. It’s a positive weekend and congratulations to the team who have put in endless hours at the circuit and a lot of
hard work at the factory.”

Fabrice Lom (Renault): “An excellent result and a very good recovery from yesterday. Our strategists again did a very good job by choosing to stop Mark during the first safety car. It was a big risk, but was rewarded. Due to that and the big performance from Sebastian we got a second and third, which is very good for both Championships. Congratulations to the whole team, we are in very good shape for the last four races of the season.”

Jenson Button: “At the start, I thought I’d take it easy on the rear tyres, because we saw earlier in the weekend how quickly they were going away, and I think doing that helped me towards the end of my first stint when I was pulling in Lewis.

“On the Prime tyre, I had a similar issue with rear-end stability, so not being able to challenge a Red Bull car that had 30 extra laps on its tyres showed us that they were very quick around here today. But it’s a circuit where we knew they’d be competitive, and probably one that was going to be difficult for us, so I go to Japan pretty happy.

“We’ve got a good upgrade for Suzuka: we’ll have something that we tried to put on the car this weekend but couldn’t – for reliability reasons. Coupled with our planned-for-Suzuka upgrade, it should hopefully be a bit of a double-whammy.

“My championship hopes were dented a little bit by Mark [Webber] finishing ahead of me, but the points gap to the front is just a race victory away. It shows there’s still everything to play for – one bad race can cost you a lot of points.”

Lewis Hamilton: “I’m still not exactly sure what happened with Mark and me. But, telling it from my point of view, I saw that he’d made a mistake, and had got caught up with the backmarkers, so I was in position to slipstream him. I was on the outside going into Turn Seven, and he was in my blind-spot, just behind me.

“I thought I’d got sufficiently past him, though. I braked, turned in, and tried to leave enough room for him on the inside – and the next thing I knew I’d got clipped, my tyre was blown, and that was it. But, as the saying goes, I guess that’s motor racing.

“So, there are still four races to go. I’m 20 points behind Mark, and that’s a reasonable gap, but it’s not an insurmountable one. I guess I’ll just have to keep my head down and hope for the best. I’m not going to think specifically about the world championship right now, I’m just going to try to enjoy the rest of the season – and whatever happens happens. But I’ll keep fighting to the end, because it’s the only way I know.”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: “Jenson drove an impressively solid race to bag 12 valuable world championship points, and was unlucky to miss out on a podium finish so narrowly.

“Lewis, too, drove a great race. We reckon he has good reason to consider himself rather unlucky, since he appeared to have pulled off a sound overtaking manoeuvre only to be bumped out of the race by the car he’d passed. But I guess that’s motor racing.

“He’s disappointed – we’re all disappointed – but we’ll regroup and continue to fight for both the drivers’ world championship and the constructors’ world championship.

“There are four grands prix left to run – four grands prix left to win in fact – and both our drivers are within a win of the drivers’ world championship lead. So, yes, we’re still within striking distance of taking both the drivers’ world championship and the constructors’ world championship, and that’s what we’re still intending to do our utmost to achieve.

“That’s what Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is all about, in fact.”

Nico Rosberg continued his run of points-scoring finishes today with a
strong drive to take fifth place at the Singapore Grand Prix from seventh
position on the grid. Team-mate Michael Schumacher had a more eventful race
with two out-of-sync pit stops compromising his track position and he
finished the 61-lap race in 13th place.

Nico Rosberg: "It was extremely tough out there but we achieved the best possible result for us today. Our aim for the last few races is to finish as the best behind the top three teams and today we were able to profit as two of them had issues with Felipe in qualifying yesterday and Lewis in the race today. So fifth place is good for us and it’s very satisfying for the team. I could push Jenson a little at some points which was good to see. We will be aiming to finish the rest of the season as strongly."

Michael Schumacher: "I am not particularly happy about my first experience of racing in Singapore this evening. I had two encounters with other cars which were
racing incidents and meant that I had to make my stops at times which were not ideal and consequently my race was heavily compromised. I suffered with the rear tyres on my first set of options which made me slide rather than drive through corners which was tough, so I would probably say that I only enjoyed the second part of the race."

Ross Brawn: "We had a small grid advantage starting from the clean side and Nico was able to make up a place which was good. We then stayed out under the first safety car when almost every car behind us came in which made us a little vulnerable but I was very pleased with our pace which enabled us to control the situation. Nico drove an excellent race today with a competitive performance that saw him pushing the McLaren-Mercedes at various stages. Michael had a more eventful race and whilst it didn’t quite go his way today, he persevered to the end of the race. It was a very good team effort to improve the car over the course of the weekend and another well-deserved points finish."

Norbert Haug: "Nico drove a very clever race and brought home the best result we could
have achieved under our existing circumstances. Michael had an action-packed first night race in Singapore but he kept going which speaks for him and his car, posting some competitive lap times after his second stop for a new nose. Thank you to everybody in the team for the hard work that was done here in difficult conditions when working in the garage was like being in a sauna at times. Singapore is one of the very best places to stage a race and on behalf of Mercedes-Benz, I would like to give our compliments to the organisers who have built up a benchmark race in a very short period of time. Our learning process is taking our team in the right direction and I am sure that we will have a better car and results next season. We are looking forward to the last four races and everyone will work very hard so that our team and drivers can compete with the leaders in the seasons to come."

The AT&T Williams stayed on course with its ambition of achieving double points race finishes and progressing its position in the constructor’s championship after the Singapore Grand Prix today. Rubens Barrichello led the team home in sixth place, while Nico Hulkenberg put up a determined performance from 17th on the grid to finish the race in eighth place*.

Rubens Barrichello: It was a good race and a good collection of points today. It was a pity to drop places off the line, but while my brakes were hot, the lap times were good and I was catching Kubica, but with the interruptions of the Safety Cars I kept losing brake performance, so it was difficult to make any more headway than we managed. In summary, though I think we can be pleased with our performance this weekend.

Nico Hulkenberg: If someone had offered me eighth place and some points after how qualifying went yesterday, I would have grabbed it! It has been a hard day’s work out there, huge concentration needed for a long race with a car close in front and another close behind for pretty much the entire race distance. But I am pleased with fighting my way through from the back to eighth place and helping the team to move ahead in the championship.

Sam Michael, Technical Director: It was a good points score from both cars today. Rubens start was poor so he lost two positions immediately. Nico had a great start and first lap. Then on the first Safety Car we decided to split the cars on strategy and it worked out for both of them. Nico did well to score points from his grid position. FW32 has been progressively stronger, and we intend to continue the trend in Suzuka.

* Further to the Stewards issuing a 20s penalty to Adrian Sutil who was provisionally classified 8th

Robert Kubica: The last few laps were definitely the most exciting part of the race. The engineers spotted a right-rear puncture on the data - it must have been some debris that cut the tyre, because I didn’t touch the wall and couldn’t feel anything in the cockpit. That stop dropped me from sixth to 13th position. I had much fresher tyres than the cars in front in those last laps, but it’s still not easy to pass in Singapore, so it was good fun picking them off one by one. In the end, I got back to seventh place, which meant we only lost one position compared to our maximum this afternoon. Ultimately, if somebody had said that I would finish seventh today, and make one more pit stop than the cars around me, then I’d definitely have taken it.

Vitaly Petrov: I made a fantastic start and was running in 10th position early in the race. We stopped under the first Safety Car period and I was the first runner on prime tyres behind Webber, so things looked good. I need to look at the video to see what happened afterwards with Hülkenberg and why he pushed me out in turn seven, but his move cost me three positions. I was then stuck behind Massa, in the queue behind the Force India, and it just wasn’t possible to overtake because we had all changed tyres at the same time. It was a tough race, but my luck went away from me yesterday in qualifying. I hope things will come back in my direction starting in Suzuka, so that I can put together a consistent weekend in qualifying and the race.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: Overall, it’s a disappointing and frustrating result because we scored very few points, while our nearest rivals Mercedes did a better job than us and stretched their lead today. Robert’s puncture forced him to make an extra pit stop, and he drove superbly to fight back to seventh: it was the highlight of the race to see him make up six positions in nine laps. As for Vitaly, his race was compromised by a very ambitious manoeuvre from Hülkenberg, which cost him three places and some valuable points. We now must look forward to Suzuka and hope for a better level of performance across the weekend.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: It was a pretty exciting afternoon - but we’d have preferred a more boring race and more points. Our car didn’t have the pace to stay with Rosberg today, and it was hard to do anything creative with the strategy when everybody was making just one stop. Robert was headed for a sixth- place finish before his puncture, and he then did an excellent job to climb back up the order. We stopped Vitaly under the first Safety Car on lap three, and he was in a very good position when he tangled with Hülkenberg. That cost him a guaranteed points finish.

Rémi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations: It was a tough race for both cars. Robert and Vitaly both made very competitive starts and were in good positions in the opening stages, but we ultimately lost ground to our main rival in the championship. For the engines, it was a very easy race: the temperatures were well under control, and we had no problems to push all the way through. It was the second race for both engines and, as per our plan, these units will not be raced again.