Nico today took his 22nd career victory - his first at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and eighth of the 2016 season so far on his 200th Grand Prix start. Lewis produced a battling drive to claim P3 - his 50th podium finish since joining the Silver Arrows in 2013.
The team extends its congratulations also to Mercedes-Benz stalwart Bernd Mayländer, who today marked his 300th race as official Formula One Safety Car driver
Nico (273) leads the Drivers' Championship by eight points from Lewis (265) in P2. Mercedes (538) lead Red Bull (316) by 222 points in the Constructors' Championship
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: What an incredible race: that was F1 at its best today. Nico did a perfect job all weekend - after the stunning lap yesterday in qualifying, he managed his race in the most controlled way today, all the way to the final metres. We wanted to make a third stop with him but Ricciardo put in a stunning out-lap after his final stop - and Nico had traffic on the lap, which cost him time. When those factors combined, they meant he would have lost the position, so he had to tough it out in the lead - and he just made it. Initially we thought it would be comfortable, then it became clear it would be very close, and we saved all the tricks and engine modes for the final laps so he could fend off Ricciardo if he needed to. As for Lewis, it was a great recovery to come back to the podium after a difficult first half of the race and a tricky weekend. It just shows how important all the practice laps are if you want to reach the perfect set-up and preparation for the race - and we didn't give those to Lewis this weekend, which left him on the back foot from Saturday onwards. Taking a step back from the race, though, most of all I want to congratulate our team. A year ago this circuit, we were nowhere; today, we have come away with a double podium and an amazing win. It shows that we are able to learn the lessons of our failures and turn them into strengths. Next we head to Malaysia, another circuit where we failed to win last year, and we will be aiming to turn that around, too.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): What a tense race! It could so easily have been second and fourth today - but some good strategy calls, strong pit stops, great driving and a decent slice of luck got us a hard-earned double podium. A fantastic weekend for Nico to pick up pole and the win on his 200th Grand Prix weekend. well-deserved. A great job too from Lewis after a tough few days here in Singapore. He didn't quite have the car underneath him this weekend for reasons we need to study in more detail. But overall we can be very pleased to come away with first and third at a circuit which is notoriously demanding on cars, teams and drivers alike. Congratulations once again to all of the engineering team on the great job they've done to understand the issues of last year and come back to claim the win at arguably the toughest race of the season.
It's fair to say that we drove an aggressive race today! Kimi's move on Hamilton to pass him on track shows that he's not a world champion by chance. Considering the distance to cover to the end of the race, and tire degradation, it made sense to call him to box one more time to cover Mercedes' strategy. As for Seb, it's a shame that he was so penalized by his starting position, but he drove a fantastic race, supported by perfect strategy. There are six more races to the end of the season, and all of them will be important.
Felipe Massa finished 12th in the Singapore Grand Prix while Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire. Valtteri was hit by a McLaren at the start which gave him a puncture and forced him to pit on lap two and rejoin at the back of the field. Felipe started 11th and gained two positions at the start before the safety car was deployed. Valtteri was hampered by damage from the first lap and was eventually forced to retire on lap 35 with mechanical issues. Felipe ran as high as seventh but lost track position as the pitstops unfolded and was 12th for the final stint of the race. Both drivers retain their position in the Drivers' Championship with Valtteri seventh and Felipe ninth. The team is now fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 111 points, one point behind Force India.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It was a difficult race, starting from 10th and 11th. Valtteri's race was almost done on that first lap when he got a puncture and dropped to the back. We suspected he had mechanical damage after his last pitstop, so the best thing to do was retire the car. For Felipe, we chose to go on a three-stop strategy to give us a bigger tyre delta at the end, but throughout the pitstops and through the traffic we just seemed to be on the back foot. Coming out behind Gutierrez after that final stop cost us because we might have been able to get onto the back of that Perez train at the end, on a better tyre, but that's racing. For a circuit like this, and in terms of where we are in the championship, the damage has been limited. The teams around us didn't get the points they could have done so we've been quite lucky.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "A really exciting finish to a long and hard grand prix. Tyres and strategy were always going to be key to today and in the end opting to go to a three stop strategy with the tyres that we saved from earlier in the weekend brought Daniel tantalisingly close to Nico. Lewis triggered the final round of pit stops with Kimi covering him and then us in turn covering Kimi. That gave Daniel roughly 27 seconds to hunt down Nico who did a good job to manage his pace to the end but Daniel drove an outstanding race to finish 0.5 seconds behind him, splitting the two Mercedes. Unfortunately for Max we had some clutch issues overnight which we thought we'd cured in time for the race, combined with an awful lot of wheel spin at the start, it cost him some time as did avoiding the (Hulkenberg) accident. He was then stuck in traffic and burnt his tyres out fairly quickly in the first two stints. Once he was able to get in clean air he made some great passing moves and was able to make progress back up to P6. Overall a positive weekend, we've extended our lead over Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship, we've scored another second place finish and produced an enthralling end to the grand prix."
Sahara Force India scored four points in today's Singapore Grand Prix as Sergio Perez raced from P17 to P8 as the only driver to execute what was effectively a one-stop strategy. Nico Hulkenberg was the victim of a first lap incident, which eliminated him at the start. The points scored tonight move the team back up to fourth position in the constructors' championship.
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "It was a rollercoaster race for us tonight - starting with a low and ending on a brilliant high. Losing Nico before turn one was very bad luck and he was just the innocent victim of a Formula One start. Having made a sensational getaway, he was clipped on his left rear, which pushed him into the wall and caused some heavy damage to the car. The resulting Safety Car caused us to roll the dice with Sergio as he pitted at the end of lap one, switching from ultra-soft tyres to softs. From there we deployed a brave strategy, which saw Sergio execute what was effectively a one-stop race as he stretched his second set of soft tyres over a mammoth 36 laps. It was a brilliant team effort from everyone, with excellent decisions being made on the pit wall, and Sergio executing an almost impossible strategy. It was a close call on tyre life, but we pulled it off. Considering the bad luck we have encountered this weekend, it feels very sweet to pick up four points and move back into fourth place in the constructors' championship."
Renault Sport Formula One Team's Kevin Magnussen enjoyed his and the team's second highest finish of the season with tenth position in the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix. Kevin took advantage of a stellar start and ran for most of the race inside the top ten. Jolyon Palmer was not so lucky today, with a suspected slow puncture from debris at the start of the race forcing an earlier than planned first pit stop.
Running thereafter out of sequence, Jolyon finished in fifteenth.
Kevin started the race from P15 with new set of Pirelli's purple ultra soft compound tyres. Jolyon started the race in P18 on new super soft tyres. With a suspected slow puncture he pitted on lap 11 for a set of new super softs. He made a second stop on lap 34 for a set of new softs.
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "A strong and measured race from Kevin with some great strategy and exceptional pit stop work meant we scored for the second time this season. Jolyon kept pushing despite a frustrating race for him with a slow puncture early on. We can see how everyone at Enstone and Viry, whether at the track or back at base, keeps on pushing and we will continue to do this no matter how difficult the challenge."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "After qualifying in P6 and P7, we of course expected more than only two points today. Unfortunately, Carlos got stuck behind Max Verstappen, who didn't get a good start... Therefore, he had to move to the right-hand side where Nico Hulkenberg was, and they crashed into each other. This meant that Carlos' car was damaged and we had to pit him early - he was shown the black and orange flag and we needed to remove the broken barge board. From then onwards, his race was quite compromised. Nevertheless, he managed to do some good lap times until the end of the race, even if we had a problem with his Energy Recovery System. Daniil did a very good race. He was fighting against Alonso and defended quite well against Max, but couldn't overtake Perez at the end of the race because we simply miss some speed on the straights. Therefore, he finished in P9. Let's shift our focus quickly towards the next couple of back-to-back races in Malaysia and Japan."
The Sauber F1 Team saw the chequered flag for the Singapore Grand Prix in P13 and P17. At the night race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Felipe Nasr went from 16th on the grid up to P13, while Marcus Ericsson finished his 50th Grand Prix in P17, as he was on a different race strategy. Formula One is staying close to the equator with its next race in the neighboring country of Malaysia in two weekends time.
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "Being in P14 and P16 on the grid gave us better starting positions than expected. It was unfortunate that Marcus' race strategy did not pay off, and this was also because he lost time due to other cars in front of him. Felipe put in a good performance and extracted the maximum from his strategy."
Fernando Alonso drove a hard and determined race to finish the Singapore Grand Prix in seventh position. The Spaniard, who had started ninth, made a brilliant start, and was able to hold on to fifth position for much of the race until falling into the clutches of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen in the closing stages.
Nonetheless, he was 'best of the rest' this evening: the next car home after the two Mercedes, the two Red Bulls and the two Ferraris. His was an impressive performance.
Jenson Button's race was effectively over on lap one. After making a good start, he became embroiled in the start-line accident, successfully dodging Nico Hulkenberg's Force India only to tag his front wing on Valterri Bottas's Williams as he was taking avoiding action.
Forced to pit for repairs and rejoin at the back, he was thereafter compromised in his efforts to play catch-up by bodywork damage that was reducing the downforce available to him. Towards the end of the race his engineers took the precautionary decision to stop his car owing to worsening brake temperatures - a legacy of the brake-duct damage that had occurred on lap one.
Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Above all, today was a good day for Formula 1. After two hours of intensely competitive racing under spectacular floodlights here in Singapore, the fact that the first two cars home were separated by less than half a second underlines what we who love racing already know: Formula 1 remains a superb sport, as exciting today as it's ever been.
"From a McLaren-Honda point of view, we were pleased to score six world championship points as a result of Fernando's forceful and competitive run to seventh place. He made a strong start and then maintained impressive and consistent lap-times all afternoon. His was a great drive by any standards.
"As for Jenson, he too got off the line well, but his fine start was spoiled when his front wing touched part of the Williams of Valtteri, who was trying to avoid getting embroiled in Nico's shunt. It was no-one's fault: sometimes chain reactions of that nature occur in racing, especially on lap one, and there was absolutely nothing Jenson could have done to avoid getting tagged in Nico's accident this evening.
"I want to say a public 'bravo' to our race team - those in the garage and those on the pit-wall, as well as those back at Mission Control in Woking too - who managed the race so efficiently. That was a job very well done, guys.
"Next we travel from the warmth of Singapore to an even hotter venue: the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. It's a very different kind of racetrack from the Marina Bay Circuit on which we raced today - fast wide sweeping bends rather than slow narrow tight corners - but we'll be gunning for points again all the same."
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: "First of all, I must congratulate Fernando for another brilliant start that put him in front of the two Toro Rosso cars. That enabled us to finish seventh and score some all-important championship points. Both drivers struggled in all the free practices this weekend, but thankfully the car had much improved since qualifying to have a good, steady race pace.
"On the other hand, Jenson was unlucky to be involved in an incident at the start, trying to avoid a crash with Hulkenberg, which damaged his front wing and brake ducts. This led to a gradual decrease in pace and we eventually had to retire the car.
"Though bittersweet, I am pleased that it was a good result for Fernando and the team. We were able to show our pace in the race and finish behind the top three teams as best of the rest."
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "Well, what can I say? It's pretty obvious to everyone that we've struggled with pace this weekend and if we were going to get anything out of this race, it was going to come down to a brave strategy combined with great tyre management. That's exactly how it turned out. Pascal drove another superb race today. He did exactly what was asked of him and I can't stress strongly enough how impressive his performance was to finish ahead of Ericsson, in what has clearly been the quicker car all weekend."
"With Esteban, it was another story. First, there was the safety car incident with the resulting penalty; we need to look at that to understand exactly what happened, as Esteban was certain he was ahead of Nasr moments before the SC boards were out. But that's irrelevant; the stewards thought otherwise hence the 5 second penalty. This had to be served at our next stop, which, quite frankly, was an unmitigated disaster. Thereafter it was a case of getting what we could out of the race, but once again it's been a particularly frustrating weekend for Esteban. Hopefully it will all be different in Malaysia in two weeks' time."
Esteban Gutierrez was Haas F1 Team's lone representative in the Singapore Grand Prix Sunday night at Marina Bay Street Circuit as teammate Romain Grosjean was unable to start the 61-lap race around the 5.065-kilometer (3.147-mile), 23-turn circuit due to an issue with his brake-by-wire system.
Gutierrez carried the flag for Haas F1 Team from 13th in the 21-driver field. Shod on a set of Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tires, Gutierrez successfully navigated the chaotic start that sent the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg hard into the inside wall after contact with the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Jr. Gutierrez stayed out during the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period and when the race returned to green-flag conditions, he was 12th, pushing Sauber's Marcus Ericsson in 11th.
As green-flag pit stops began to cycle through, Gutierrez rose to as high as fifth before pitting at the end of lap 19 for a used set of Purple ultrasofts. The stop put Gutierrez back in 13th, whereupon he set his sights on Sainz ahead in 12th.
As another set of pit stops cycled through, Gutierrez briefly cracked the top-10 on lap 29 and stayed there until lap 33 when the Red Bull of Max Verstappen passed and dropped him to 11th.
Gutierrez's final pit stop came at the end of lap 36, shortly after Williams driver Felipe Massa took over 11th. Off went the Purple ultrasofts and on went a used set of Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tires that would carry Gutierrez to the finish.
The scheduled stop placed Gutierrez back in 13th with 25 laps remaining, with Sainz again ahead of him by a little more than nine seconds. Gutierrez methodically began reeling Sainz in, cutting the gap to less than a second by lap 47. Sainz made his final pit stop on lap 48 and, combined with Massa also pitting, pushed Gutierrez to 11th with 13 laps to go. Gutierrez held the spot to the end to collect his fifth 11th-place result of the season.
Beyond the race winner, the person happiest to see the checkered flag drop on the Singapore Grand Prix was Grosjean. It was an incredibly frustrating weekend for the veteran Formula One pilot. Technical issues prevented him from turning any worthwhile laps in Friday's opening practice session (FP1). A spin 45 minutes into Friday's second practice (FP2) ended that session prematurely, as the rear wing, floor and rear suspension needed to be replaced. A second spin in qualifying on Saturday damaged the gearbox, necessitating a replacement and incurring a five-place grid penalty. Alas, the 20th-place starting spot proved to be moot, as the issue with the brake-by-wire system meant Grosjean was unable to start the formation lap. When the problem was deemed terminal, Grosjean's race was over before it even began.
Fifteen rounds into the 21-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team remains eighth in the constructor standings with 28 points. Seventh-place Toro Rosso increased its margin over the American squad to 19 points as Daniil Kvyat finished ninth, while ninth-place Renault cut the gap on Haas F1 Team to 21 points as Kevin Magnussen finished 10th.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won the Singapore Grand Prix from the pole by .488 of a second over Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. It was Rosberg's 22nd career Formula One victory, his eighth of the season and his first at Singapore. And with Rosberg's teammate, Lewis Hamilton, finishing third, Rosberg's third straight win allowed him to leapfrog Hamilton in the championship standings. Rosberg came into Singapore two points behind Hamilton, but he leaves with an eight-point advantage with six races remaining on the 2016 Formula One schedule. The next event comes in two weeks with the Malaysia Grand Prix Oct. 2 at Sepang Circuit in Kuala Lumpur.
Guenther Steiner: "Esteban did a good job today. He finished, again, in 11th. I'm almost tired to say that now, but it is what it is. You always want things to be better, but we were fighting out there and ended up 11th. Esteban did a good job all weekend, so fair play to him. Romain, well I think he's happy the weekend's over and he can focus on the next one. His weekend started badly and ended worse by not even starting the race due to a brake-by-wire issue. We're still investigating why it happened on his lap to the grid. I think the only thing for him is onward and upward, and Esteban keeps improving. Now we get ready for Malaysia."
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won a tactical Singapore Grand Prix, which kept up its 100% safety car record following a start line incident that influenced the strategy for only a handful of competitors. Singapore is a race that has mostly been won from pole, and Rosberg continued this pattern to move into the championship lead.
Three drivers used the ensuing safety car to make an early pit stop. Red Bull was the only team in the top 10 to start on the supersoft tyre, while the rest used the faster ultrasoft. However, Daniel Ricciardo wasn't able to complete a longer first stint than his direct rivals, negating the theoretical advantage of the more durable compound.
In the closing stages of the race, Mercedes used tyre strategy to get Lewis Hamilton past Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and onto the podium with a third stop. Ricciardo also made a late pit stop for the supersoft: at one point taking more than three seconds per lap out of Rosberg to set up a thrilling finale. Nonetheless, the Mercedes driver stuck to his two-stop strategy to seal another win.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel started from the back of the grid but worked his way up to fifth at the finish, using a soft-ultrasoft-ultrasoft strategy. Another alternative strategy, using the soft tyre, was adopted by Force India's Sergio Perez. The Mexican started the race on the ultrasoft but changed to the soft under the safety car, making just one more stop for soft to finish in the points after starting well down the order following a penalty.
This week, Pirelli's testing campaign with the wide 2017 tyres continues, with Mercedes testing the wet compounds at Paul Ricard in France from September 21-22 using an adapted car to simulate next year's regulations.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: "Singapore remained one of the most arduous races of the year, for drivers, cars and tyres. We had the unusual pattern of track evolution following a significant rainstorm overnight. From the beginning of the race we saw a number of different strategies, with teams adopting a varied approach to fight for the podium places. One particular highlight was Sebastian Vettel's climb from last, which was helped by a unique and bold strategy, while tyre strategy also dominated the end game thanks to a mixture of tactics involving both two and three tyre changes."
Truthometer
We predicted that three-stop was the theoretically fastest solution for the 61-lap race and this turned out to be the case. Nico Rosberg started instead on the ultrasoft, then stopped for ultrasoft again on lap 16 and finally soft on lap 34.
