Singapore
RACE REACTIONS
What the drivers
had to say after
racing in Singapore
Alpine
Pierre
GASLY
“[Singapore] was always going to be difficult especially with the pit lane start. I have not been feeling too comfortable in the car recently so we changed set-up and changed floor to try and understand some things further which should benefit us for the future. We knew the race would be complicated and it was nice to have a few battles out there even if it was not for the points paying positions. I know the team is working exceptionally hard at the moment and we all know we are nowhere near where we should be right now. I am confident we can do better in Austin compared to the last few races where the circuit characteristics have not suited our package, especially with the lack of grip and bumps that are common on street circuits. We will continue to keep our heads down and keep focusing on improving our current position.”
Franco
COLAPINTO
“It was a long race with lots of close battles out there, which was fun but, ultimately, we didn't have the pace and lost some places towards the end on older tyres. I managed to get a good launch off the line and made up places through the opening sequence of corners. We were running quite well in the midfield pack on the softs at the time and knowing how difficult it is to overtake at this track, we pitted early trying to undercut and use track position to make up places. We tried our best to manage the tyres but with a lot of degradation and having to also move offline for blue flags, it made it difficult to hold off the cars on fresher tyres in the closing laps. It was not what we wanted but we just have to keep pushing and better results will come. I'm looking forward to the next leg of the season in the Americas, which is one of my favourites with incredibly passionate fans.”
Aston Martin
Lance
STROLL
"No opportunities for us [in Singapore]. We tried to sit it out and waited for a Safety Car that never came. We managed to make the soft tyre work for 38 laps. The mediums in the second stint wore off quicker than expected due to traffic, overheating and fighting other cars. It could have gone better for us, but we did the best we could do and we will keep trying. We now look to Texas."
Fernando
ALONSO
"We had a good race [in Singapore] and the car was behaving well. I enjoy racing here and it's very physically demanding too. We showed good pace on both stints and the team made a good call to fit the medium tyres, as that enabled us to fight back after a slow pit-stop. Hopefully we can score some more points at the remaining rounds of the Championship."
Ferrari
Charles
LECLERC
"It was a really difficult race, unfortunately, a reflection of the whole weekend. Right from Friday, we struggled to find the right feeling with the car and we never managed to put everything together in the way we would have wanted. In traffic it was impossible to move forward, as we also had to deal with cooling problems. Sadly, where we finished reflects where we are today.
"Over the past two races we have encountered various difficulties that we must now analyse in detail, so that we can start improving again. The aim is to be better prepared and ready to fight with our main rivals in the United States."
Lewis
HAMILTON
"It has been a challenging couple of days but there were definitely some positives to take. I’ve felt good in the car all weekend and we had a strong final third of the race. The softs gave us great attacking pace and meant I could close down a big gap to the cars ahead, but unfortunately a brake issue cost us the overtake and the chance to score more points.
"We had the potential to be further ahead this weekend, starting from Qualifying, so the focus now is on maximising what we have going into Austin and executing cleanly to bring home as many points as possible."
Haas
Esteban
OCON
“It was always going to be a tough challenge, but we at least gained a position at the start, and we moved up a couple of positions in the first few laps. We were on for catching Lance at some stage, it was getting better through the race. But we stayed out really late and when we boxed, we lost out on everything. We couldn’t recover because of the DRS train that was in front – that was it for the race really. It feels like we’ve had a missed opportunity this weekend.”
Oliver
BEARMAN
“I’m really happy. After my Lap 1 incident, and dropping to P10, I was then under threat from Nico, who was very fast. In general, I was struggling in my first stint with car balance. We made a good step after the pit stops, and we were looking like P8 potentially with Alonso’s long pit stop but sadly lost that position to him as he was quicker than us. I’m happy to score points, they’re so important and on a tough track, we executed a great weekend.”
Kick Sauber
Nico
HULKENBERG
“It wasn’t our day. Without track position it’s always tough for us, especially on a street circuit like this where overtaking is nearly impossible unless you’ve got a big tyre advantage. In the end, when I got close to Franco, he braked quite early — a bit of a surprise — and I lost a lot of rear downforce, which caused a big lock-up and the spin. We’ll have to review the strategy, but overall, we didn’t quite have the pace this weekend. Still, even on tough days like this, there’s always something to learn and take things forward into the next races.”
Gabriel
BORTOLETO
“It definitely wasn’t the best race for us. I picked up some damage on Lap 1 after contact in Turn 1 — we went three-wide and unfortunately touched and broke the front wing. This forced us to pit to change it, which cost us some time, and from then on it was always going to be a difficult race. Our pace wasn’t the strongest and, once we fell behind Colapinto, we knew it would be hard to get back past — overtaking here is extremely difficult. I spent most of the race stuck behind him, which also allowed others to close in. Overall, it was just one of those days where things didn’t quite go our way. Still, we’ll take the positives from the weekend, learn what we can, and move on. The team keeps working really hard, both here and at HQ, and we’re all determined to get back to scoring points.”
McLaren
Oscar
PIASTRI
"I am very proud of this team. We've won back-to-back Constructors’ Championships, something we are all so proud of. It’s been a really good season so far, and to win it this early in the year is a great achievement. A massive congrats to the whole team, and thank you for all of the hard work. It was a trickier race on my side, but it's something we'll review as a team. Now, we'll rest and reset before we head to the US."
Lando
NORRIS
“It was a tough race. I gave it my all and got close, but Max didn’t make any mistakes today. There were a few moments where we were side-by-side and had a good battle. I would’ve loved to get by and put some pressure on George, but the opportunities were so limited around this circuit.
“I’m happy with the result though, the car was fast, and we’ve won the Constructors’ Championship for the second year in a row. Huge congratulations to everyone in the team who has played their part in achieving this remarkable success, they’ve done an incredible job, and we’ve achieved this together. We’ll make sure we celebrate this properly as a team and then get straight back to work for the rest of the season.”
Mercedes
George
RUSSELL
"I’m really pleased with our victory in Singapore. This track has not always been my best friend over the years, maybe from my own doing. We didn’t start the weekend in the best way either but come Q3 yesterday I felt really good in the car and that carried on into today. It was such a long race, so I was very glad to see the chequered flag, but we ultimately had it all under control.
"The goal for us is to finish second in the Constructor’s Championship this year. This result helps us in that quest, but we still have six races to go. We will need to be at our best if we are to achieve that but hopefully we can carry this form into the double header of Austin and Mexico City. Congratulations to McLaren on their Constructors title and to Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains too."
Kimi
ANTONELLI
"I struggled with some wheelspin in the second phase of my start and that cost me into Turn 1. I lost two positions, and my race was a fightback from there. It was a tough race physically but I’m happy with how I managed to battle back. The pace was good, and I was able to gain a position back with a good move on Leclerc. We could have achieved more but P5 is still okay.
"Congratulations to George on a great win and a brilliant drive. That is a great result for the team and really helps us out in the Constructors'. Congratulations to McLaren too and everyone at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains on another Mercedes powered title."
Racing Bulls
Liam
LAWSON
“We stayed out most of the race on a set of mediums and unfortunately ended up behind a train of cars after we boxed. Had we started higher up the grid, we could've potentially ended up in the points with our pace, but a tough Quali meant it was going to be tricky from the outset. It's been a difficult weekend in challenging conditions, but my focus is now on Austin."
Isack
HADJAR
"It wasn’t our day as we had an issue with the car just before the pit stop. It lasted the whole second part of the race and cost us the points. I was just hoping for the other drivers not to catch up so quickly, but they did, and the blue flags didn’t help us. In the corners we were pretty fast but we lost everything on the straights, so there wasn’t anything more we could do. I’ll be looking together with the team at what happened and then we'll switch our focus to Austin, aiming to keep the good momentum started after the summer break.”
Red Bull Racing
Max
VERSTAPPEN
“We had a difficult start to the race, having little grip on our side of the grid. We opted for the soft compound for a better launch and to try and get to P1 but it didn’t happen for us unfortunately. The car wasn’t where we wanted in terms of the set up and it isn’t a mystery what went wrong but just need to analyse this later. The biggest problems were the downshifts and upshifts: this was giving me a lot of pushing in the braking which is not what you want on a street circuit and it was not easy to drive around the track. However, it didn’t matter as, even if the balance was perfect, it is hard to pass round here so I think second is the best result we could have achieved. I think my tyres were older for the final stint, so it was difficult to manage, but we were able to keep Lando behind which is what mattered. Well done to McLaren on the Constructors’ Championship, they fully deserve that title, and I am very happy for them. Overall, we can still be very satisfied with the weekend, Singapore is not our favourite layout and we maximised our result. We do understand the car a lot better, we have definitely improved in the last few races, we just need to analyse and hopefully [in Austin] we can do a little better.”
Yuki
TSUNODA
“[The] first lap was the worst one that I have ever had. I lost so many positions and just didn't have any space to move, every time I tried there was another car there which left no room for me. It was the same at every corner on that first lap when I was trying to overtake. What is really frustrating is that my pace today was really really good, the best that I have had since being with the team, and definitely enough to put me in the points. The long and short run is feeling so great which was the complete opposite before Baku, and even with a little bit of damage to the car it still felt competitive which is very positive. Towards the end there was an opportunity to pass Isack but Max was fighting for P2 from behind me, so I moved aside as I didn't want to hold him up which was definitely the right decision for the team. Looking forward to the rest of the season I will be focusing on bringing together all of the improvements that we have made in the last few races, consistency and extracting grip from the one lap pace will be key.”
Williams
Alexander
ALBON
"Starting from the pit lane today we knew it was going to be a bit of a test session for us. We did a test setup just for some learnings and it didn’t really work, but that’s okay as we can use that data for future races. We had good pace when we were in clean air, we just got caught up in some blue flags and were stuck in traffic for majority of the race. Even when we did have fresher tyres, we had to wait for the car in front to catch the cars further up, so it was just one of those races where we couldn’t do much, especially with no safety cars. There were a lot of learnings from this weekend, and we will look to tidy everything up for the next weekend out in Austin."
Carlos
SAINZ
"Given the circumstances, we need to be happy and proud about our performance today. It was a straightforward race with no safety cars, but we still managed to progress through the field and grab a valuable point starting from P18. We were able to extend our medium tyre longer than anybody else into the race and once I put the softs on, I was able to do a very fast stint and some strong overtakes on track. We could’ve been fighting higher up the field today but all in all I’m very happy with our race execution. We’ll take the learnings and start preparing for the upcoming races."
