Christian Horner, Team Principal: It was a big performance today to win the Singapore GP. It’s one of the stand-out venues of the calendar with a really unique atmosphere and it's probably the toughest and most demanding race for the car and the drivers physically, due to the hot and humid conditions. Sebastian was faultless today; he was truly dominant in the first half and in managing the race to the end; not taking any risks to record his ninth win of the season. Starting from the left-hand side of the grid, the dirty side, Mark lost out as others did on the run to the first corner, but thereafter he had a really good race with Fernando and we seemed to be lighter on the tyres than the Ferrari today. He managed to pass Fernando twice and then our strategy worked to the end of the race. On top of that I think we also had the fastest pit stop of the day, so a truly great team performance that puts Sebastian within one point of achieving his second World Championship. However, that said, it doesn't change our approach as we head to Japan.
Cyril Dumont, Renault: Today it was simply a fantastic race with good driving from Sebastian. He was able to be quicker by almost a second to all his opponents. He pulled out a big gap and was incredible today. Looking to Mark, unfortunately the start was not that good, but he was able to overtake Fernando twice, so I think it was a solid driving from him. All in all it's a wonderful result for the team and I think it starts tasting good.
Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: "Jenson drove a truly fabulous race yet again - and bagged 18 valuable world championship points as a result.
"He controlled his pace faultlessly, looked after his tyres brilliantly, and then attacked the Marina Bay circuit with total commitment at the end when aggression rather than circumspection was called for. But for a bit of bad luck in the form of a few backmarkers whom he encountered at precisely the inopportune moment, he could well have snatched a truly sensational victory. He's now a clear second in the drivers' world championship too.
"Lewis had a more frustrating day, but drove with great determination to finish fifth at the chequered flag, pulling off some fantastic passing manoeuvres in so doing.
"All in all, he had to make five visits to the pitlane - so, as I say, bearing that in mind, fifth place was a seriously impressive achievement.
"Next, though, we go to Suzuka, which is one of the great circuits on the Formula 1 calendar from a driver's point of view. Both Lewis and Jenson will be aiming for ultimate honours there - as indeed they will in all the remaining races of the 2011 season."
Stefano Domenicali: The result itself is not a surprise, but the performance definitely was, and in a bad way. We were slower than we expected and we must carefully analyse the reasons why things turned out this way. It will be a useful exercise for the coming races and also when looking to the future. Fernando did his best, staying in the hunt for a podium finish right to the end and he is still definitely in the running for second place in the Drivers' Championship. Felipe could also have been up there with him, but his race was ruined by the puncture caused by Hamilton: our Brazilian is definitely having an unlucky time of it at the moment and yet again, as in Monza, he had to fight his way back up the order through no fault of his own. Now we must roll up our sleeves and maintain our motivation for the remaining races of this season, in which our aim has to remain the same, namely to try and win some races. At the same time, we must learn as much as possible about the behaviour of this car, to apply the lessons to the one that is currently at the design stage.
Pat Fry: We have to be honest and accept that this result reflects the relative strengths of the teams at the moment. Our car is third best and to finish fourth is more or less what we might have expected. We cannot say the same as regards our performance level, which did not match our expectations. Tyre degradation, especially with the Supersoft, was very high and we must try and understand why. In terms of strategy, I think we took the right decisions: the Safety Car certainly did not help, because both Felipe and Fernando had made their stop a few laps earlier and so they could not exploit that advantage compared to their closest competitors. In the end, we left Fernando on the Softs, because it was the best choice to cover Hamilton, the only one who could have taken the position off us. Unfortunately, by this time, the podium was already out of reach. To those who ask what will motivate us as we tackle the remaining races, I would say that we have a lot of work to do, both to try and improve the performance level of this car and to get pointers for next year. We have some new parts in Japan and Korea which will be useful on both these fronts. We are Ferrari and we won't let ourselves be discouraged by a poor showing.
Nico ran a three-stop option/option/option/prime strategy stopping on laps 9, 22 and 29. After starting on options, Michael stopped on laps 10 and 24, both times for options, prior to his retirement. Michael was running in ninth place when he collided with the rear of Sergio Perez's Sauber at turn eight on lap 28.
Ross Brawn: "It turned out to be a fairly tough race for us this evening. As expected, we didn't have the pace to match the leaders but we were quite comfortable in the gap behind the top six cars. Unfortunately Michael's accident hurt us both from his own point of view and that it brought out the safety car at the wrong time for our strategy. Nico then did a very good job to make the set of tyres that he had last for over half of the race. Seventh place was about as much as we could have expected today, and whilst it feels disappointing, we will keep working hard and pushing forward."
Norbert Haug: "The race developed quite well for us until Michael's incident with Sergio Perez which brought out the safety car. We had no choice but to pit Nico and put him on the prime tyres, on which he then did 31 laps, more than half the race distance. Nico did a very good job to keep the tyres together for such a long stint. Michael's speed before the accident looked good, considering our current technical package, so it is a shame for him as he could perhaps have finished in front of Nico. Without the safety car, and with an ideal strategy for Nico, he could have been in a position to finish one place higher. Thank you to the organisers here in Singapore for hosting this race, which is one of the most spectacular events in the calendar, and produces the best television images over the course of the season."
After 61 difficult laps Bruno and Vitaly finished the fourth edition of the Singapore Grand Prix in 15th and 17th respectively.
Bruno clipped the wall early on in the race, resulting in an extra pit stop in order to change his front wing. This put an end to any chance of points.
Eric Boullier, Team Principal and Managing Director: Coming to Singapore, we knew that we were in for a tough weekend. The R31 was never suited to street circuits and there were very few reasons to hope this might change here. However, we never expected our performance to be so embarrassing. Seeing our cars so low in the classification today, clearly struggling for grip among blue flags, was a painful experience. In these conditions, it is difficult to draw any positive from the race apart from the flawless job made by the organisers of the Grand Prix, who have definitely produced one of the best venues on the calendar. We will all forget this race quickly and turn our focus to Suzuka, where the track's quick corners should make us smile again. Finally, I would like to wish Steve Nielsen, our Sporting Director, all the best for the future. Steve has been with the team for more than 10 years and today was his last race with us.
James Allison, Technical Director: Today's race was 61 laps of misery to cap off a weekend of disappointment. We did not start today with high hopes; poor pace and high tyre degradation during the race simulation runs on Friday are not good weapons to take into the race and our cars suffered accordingly. Bruno nudged the wall after his first tyre stop which left him in last place after stopping to replace the damaged wing. Thereafter he showed good fighting spirit to get back to 15th place. Although it has been highly reliable in races hitherto, Vitaly was additionally hampered by loss of his KERS early on which made it very tough for him to overtake.
Ricardo Penteado, LRGP Engine Support Leader, Renault Sport F1: The weekend didn't go as well as we hoped. It was difficult to find the right engine maps for this track but at the end we were happy with the driveability. Nevertheless, it was always going to be hard to do anything from our qualifying positions. Let's look forward to Japan. We've performed well on this type of track this season so we'll focus on getting back to form there.
AT&T Williams finished today's Singapore Grand Prix in 11th and 13th place with its drivers Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello. >From a P13 start position, Pastor secured 11th on a three stop strategy, while Rubens concluded the race in 13th from P12 on the grid, a two strategy forcing a long, final stint of tyre conservation. As Technical Director, Sam Michael, completes his last race for AT&T Williams today, the team thanks him for his contribution over the past 11 seasons.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: We tried a couple of different things on strategy between the two cars but today we didn't have enough pace to get into the points. Both the drivers probably got the best out of the car they could. It was a tough race but both FW33s came home with no reliability issues. As that was my last Grand Prix for AT&T Williams, I would like to thank everyone on the race team and at the factory for the last 11 years and to wish them all the best for a bright future.
Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Team Principal: "I have to say I am delighted with today's result. We knew we had the performance in the car to get both drivers in the points, but to come away with 12 points is extremely satisfying. It strengthens our sixth place in the championship and moves us closer to fifth place. One of the key moments of the race was the safety car period, when we chose to pit both cars at the same time. The pit crew did an excellent job of stacking the cars and that played a critical role in where we ultimately finished. Both Paul and Adrian have performed brilliantly all weekend and haven't put a foot wrong. With five races remaining we now need to build on this momentum so that we continue our strong finish to the season."
Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "I can't pretend to be that happy with one point, as I think we were expecting a little better than what we achieved today. Unfortunately the Safety Car didn't come at the right moment for us. Under the circumstances I think what Sergio did was the best we could achieve here. I have to be honest and say we should have left Kamui out during the Safety Car period, but still I don't think he could have scored points today. Performance wise I think we are better than we looked, but we just didn't get through the traffic when it was there."
Franz Tost: "This was not our weekend, as we were behind right from the start, after experiencing difficulties in Friday free practice. Qualifying was therefore difficult and, starting 14th and 16th, having got both cars through to Q2, clearly we were going to have a tough race on a street circuit. This evening, we did the best we could, even though we were simply not quick enough. Sebastien got the most out of the package we gave him for today. As for Jaime, I still do not understand why he was given a drive-through penalty, which completely compromised his race and ruined the strategy we had planned for him. We must now look to improve on this front before tackling a very different type of circuit, as we head to the next race at Suzuka in Japan."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "I think we can be pleased with how we Heikki finished but again the luck was not with Jarno. Another good start put him in a very good position early on and even after his first pitstop he was still in good shape. After that the puncture meant he had to give up the positions he had won at the start which is obviously very bad luck but it was fortunate that Heikki was able to push throughout the whole race and finish in front of the Renault. I think that is a good car and it shows that our car is getting better and better. Engine wise it was all ok for us. We managed the temperatures the pressures well and had no issues on either car so I think we can be pretty happy with how it ended."
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "Mixed reactions from me because that was possibly our strongest race performance, particularly early on, but it obviously did not end for Jarno as we would have wanted. Jarno drove a very good first stint and by switching the strategy and stopping Heikki early we were able to control the cars behind us that we were racing at that point. When we pitted Jarno we got him back out in front of the cars he was racing but unfortunately Alguersuari hit him, causing a left rear puncture and ruining his race. He kept pushing when we got him back out but finally he had to stop with a gearbox problem. Heikki drove a very strong race and it was good to beat one of the Renaults on pace today, both on track and in the pitstops. It is a shame we could not get both cars to the finish, but this was still a very good performance from the whole team."
Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "For me that is probably the best race we have had in our short life in Formula One so far. Heikki drove an outstanding race and was able to keep pace with a lot of the cars around him, and pull away from the cars behind, and he made the most of the new package we brought here to finish very well. Jarno again suffered from bad luck and maybe the strategy we gave him was not the best, but we called it as we saw it and I am sure we will learn from how his race worked out. I am delighted for everyone back at the factory to see their hard work on the upgrade work out well on track, and I think we can look forward to a strong end to the season, knowing we can fight with established teams around us when the opportunities arise."
Colin Kolles, Team Principal: "We knew it was going to be a tough race and it has been, but we achieved the main objective of the team that was crossing the finish line with both cars. We had different strategies for each one of the drivers and we knew that the chances of a safety car were high therefore we had alternatives to adapt our strategy quickly. The planning was good but it had to come into place earlier than expected when Daniel had to pit to replace his front wing. Both Tonio and Daniel did a good job on the track because they adapted to the circumstances and kept focused. They managed to keep a fairly good rhythm despite the blue flags and pushed each other to the end. This one is over and now we are hoping for a better race in Japan in two weeks".
It was a surprisingly clean opening lap to the 14th race of the season with both Timo and Jerome getting off to a good start. At the first corner Ricciardo drove into the right rear of Timo's car and it wasn't long before he radioed in with handling problems with his MVR-02. He persevered with his race but his car was a handful and when he braked for turn 18, he lost the rear and hit the wall.
Jerome stayed out of trouble and after his first pit-stop he was running in 20th position. On lap 29 the Safety Car came out after Schumacher hit the wall. Jerome took advantage of the situation and pitted for a second and final time to put a set of new Pirelli P-Zero Soft tyres on. At the restart he was in 19th position and one lap ahead of Trulli's Lotus. He drove consistently well to the end and brought the car back home through the streets of a fully lit Singapore Street Circuit.
John Booth, Team Principal: "Jerome drove possibly his best race of the year today. We were really pleased to see him battling with cars that are usually several seconds in front of us on pace. Enabling him to do this was a well thought-out strategy by the engineers which was executed faultlessly by the pit crew, with last minute calls and Safety Cars thrown in the mix. I'm sure he'll take a big lift from this race and look forward to the final races of the season. Unfortunately, Timo's race was over on the first lap with the impact from Ricciardo. It's a great shame we didn't get the chance to see him in action at his favourite track. It's certainly been a very hot and humid weekend for all of the guys in the garage, however they have done a fantastic job to keep to our normal high standards of operation."
The Singapore Grand Prix - held at night with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees centigrade and humidity close to 80% - is one of the toughest races of the season, taking the longest time to complete and requiring the heaviest fuel load. This places huge demands on the tyres, particularly with constant impacts against the kerbing and 23 corners testing traction to the limit.
The top 10 qualified on the P Zero Red supersoft tyres but Force India's Paul di Resta chose to start on the P Zero Yellow soft tyre from 10th, having not gone out in the final qualifying session on Saturday. This strategy allowed Di Resta to complete a 19-lap opening stint on the soft tyre with full fuel, before switching to the supersofts and then finishing the race on the soft tyre. He scored his best result of the season, running his final set of P Zero Yellow soft tyres for 33 laps to become the highest-placed two-stopper in sixth place, which is also the best result of his Formula One career so far.
Vettel sealed his victory with a three-stop strategy, starting on the supersoft tyre before switching to the soft tyre twice for two longer stints in the middle of the race. The German, on course to become the youngest double world champion in Formula One history, ended the race on the supersoft tyre, managing his strategy perfectly to lead from start to finish.
Just after half-distance an accident brought out the safety car (which has appeared at every grand prix so far in Singapore) and eroded Vettel's 22-second lead, delivering an extra aspect to the tyre strategy as most of the frontrunners pitted for fresh tyres. Another factor affecting the strategy was the long pit stop time in Singapore due to the 404-metre pit lane and a lower pit lane speed limit: in total a stop cost more than 30 seconds, although the actual time taken to change the tyres is usually between three and four seconds.
The speed differential between the soft and the supersoft tyre, just over a second per lap, created plenty of overtaking opportunities throughout the race, with some spectacular moves from start to finish. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton dropped out of the lead battle following contact with Felipe Massa, but despite accident damage, a drive-through penalty and five visits to the pits, he used the speed of both the soft and the supersoft compounds to climb back up to fifth place at the finish.
Paul Hembery: "We've seen a truly spectacular race under the lights of Singapore, where tyre strategy was key. The heat, humidity and length of the race made it a tough event for our tyres, but both the compounds performed faultlessly over two hours. There were no particular issues and degradation was at a normal level given the characteristics of this race. This was one of the most complicated races strategy-wise of the entire year and we saw a wide variety of tactics being employed by all the teams. Once more we were treated to a grandstand finish, with Jenson Button chasing down Sebastian Vettel all the way to the chequered flag. The organisers have done another brilliant job here, making Singapore one of the highlights of the Formula One season."
