Race - Singapore GP report: Renault F1

Daniel Ricciardo gave Renault-powered Infiniti Red Bull Racing its third podium of the year in today’s epic Singapore Grand Prix. Ricciardo raced to second, under two seconds behind race winner Sebastian Vettel, in the lengthy race held under the lights of Marina Bay. Team-mate Daniil Kvyat finished in sixth.

Scuderia Toro Rosso duo Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz capped off a successful day for Renault with eighth and ninth positions, bringing all four Renault-powered cars past the flag in the points.

Key race points

— Daniel Ricciardo converted second on the grid to second in the race, shadowing Sebastian Vettel all race.
— Team-mate Daniil Kvyat kept fourth at the start but was unlucky to pit just before the two safety car periods and lost position on both occasions. He dropped behind both Mercedes and also Bottas to pass the flag in sixth overall.
— Scuderia Toro Rosso achieved a double points finish. Max Verstappen battled back after a stall on the grid lost him a lap. Using the two safety car periods to his advantage he was back to 12th by lap 39 and then took both Lotus cars in spectacular moves to get into the top 10. By the end of the race he was less than one second from seventh-placed Sergio Perez.
— Carlos Sainz started from 14th and graduated to 12th by the end of the first lap. He was battling for the top ten but lost some time in the pits. He fought it out on track, however, to finish right on the tail of his team-mate.

Rémi Taffin, Director of Operations

Singapore is a very difficult track to get right, both for driveability and reliability, but we’ve had a trouble-free weekend. We played to our strengths and helped all four drivers score points, so we can consider that a job well done. We laid the foundations for it in Monza, and it is satisfying to see those risks paying off. Thanks to all the guys on track; it shows how we never give up. We still have a few races to go on a wide variety of tracks so there is a lot of work, but we’re confident in our performance.

Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director

We thought Singapore would represent our best chance for a strong result and it played out today with all four cars in the points. Despite a lot of off-track activity and rumours, we have kept focus and had a faultless weekend, allowing the teams to optimize their set-ups and performance. Suzuka is a very different challenge but we’ve laid the foundations for the second part of the year and can look forward to it with optimism.