FORMULA 1 - 2014

[MIKA27]

Hamilton 'running out of races'

Lewis Hamilton concedes time is not on his side as he looks to close the gap on Nico Rosberg in the Championship standings.

With just six races remaining, a total of 175 points, the British racer trails his team-mate by 22 points in the battle for the World title.

Hamilton may be leading in terms of race wins, six to Rosberg's four, but he has also suffered more retirements than the German, three compared to just one.

It has been the story of Hamilton's season, his second with Mercedes, as every time he closes in on Rosberg, something goes wrong.

The 29-year-old, though, concedes he has no more room for errors whether they be his or the team's.

"Since race one I have been 25 points down, so I've never been able to afford a crash," said the 2008 World Champion.

"I've lost ground and then clawed it back at every race this year, so nothing changes for me. I can't afford to lose anything.

"I am running out of races, but I'm not here to take any more risks as I'm already taking as many risks as I can.

"All I can do is say to my guys (his mechanics) 'stay positive because there are a lot of things that can happen and a lot of points to race for'.

"A lot of the stuff that has happened has had nothing to do with the engineers and mechanics.

"What is important is we don't dwell on the past but look forwards. Let's take this positive energy.

"It's amazing how strong and positive my engineers and mechanics have remained.

"It must have been hard for them when they saw my car go up in flames (as occurred during qualifying in Hungary).

"They would have been thinking 'was that Lewis?', so how we have recovered from it as a team has been quite special."

[MIKA27]

Perez closing in on Force India deal

Although "very close" to re-signing with Force India, Sergio Perez admits it is not done until it is done.

Last season the Mexican racer firmly believed he would be staying on at McLaren only to be dropped at the 11th hour in favour of Kevin Magnussen.

As such, Perez is well aware that until he has a signed contract in place, anything can still happen.

"I think we should be very close to committing for next year with the team," he said on Thursday.

"But," he added, "you never know and I have experience in the past so you never know what is going to happen."

The Force India was speaking in Singapore where F1 will be racing this weekend, under the lights at the Marina Bay circuit.

And Perez is looking forward to a strong weekend for himself and his team.

"We are really optimistic for this weekend," he revealed. "We have a good upgrade package and I believe we can be competitive.

"Definitely our target is definitely the McLarens which we are fighting really close and hopefully we can score more points than them this weekend with both cars."

[MIKA27]

Bottas: Aim is to beat Ferrari

Felipe Massa may have his sights set on Red Bull Racing but team-mate Valtteri Bottas reckons beating Ferrari is the priority.

As Formula 1 enters the final stint, a run of six flyaway grands prix, Williams are third in the Championship on 177 points.

That puts them 95 behind Red Bull Racing and 15 ahead of Ferrari.

But while Massa is dreaming of catching Red Bull in the standings, his Williams team-mate feels staying ahead of Ferrari should be the target.

Asked by Autosport if Williams were looking to haul in Red Bull, Bottas said: "That could be more difficult. We know they have some tracks to come where they are going to be really, really strong.

"For us the priority is to try to beat Ferrari, but you never know, anything can happen.

"All we are going to do is focus on getting the maximum points for the team.

"If it's enough to catch Red Bull then it is."

The Finnish racer enters the final six races with four podium finishes - including two P2s - to his name putting him fourth in the Drivers' Championship.

And Bottas is confident there will be more opportunities to finish inside the top three before this season is over.

"Singapore, maybe Brazil, they could be difficult ones [tracks], but we reckon there are some good ones to come [too].

"We are still aiming to bring some updates later in the season, so Suzuka, Austin and Abu Dhabi, for example, I think we can fight for the podium definitely.

"We'll keep pushing."

[MIKA27]

Grosjean returns to Race of Champions

Romain Grosjean has signed up for this year's Race of Championship, which will take place at the Bushy Park Circuit in Barbados.

The event pits the best from motorsport against each other as racers from Formula 1 take on those from the World Rally Championship, MotoGP, Indy Cars, Touring cars, Le Mans and also X-Games.

This year Grosjean will again contest the event that saw him crowned ROC Champion of Champions back ion 2012.

"I'm very happy to be back at the Race Of Champions once more!" said the Lotus driver. "It's such a pleasant event where all the drivers race at 100 percent but we can also have a lot of fun off the track.

"Coming back this year is even more special to me as I won the 'Champion of Champions' title at the last race. I'm looking forward to racing in Barbados as I know they are huge fans of motor sport.

"This year we will also do all we can to win the ROC Nations Cup as it's always special to race for your country."

Tom Kristensen, who Grosjean beat to the 2012 crown, has also confirmed his participation.

This year's Race of Champions will take place on December 13-14.

[davidsan]

For the Aussies out there do most of you watch the live F1 coverage on Channel 10 or are there other avenues which you use to watch the races live? I'm not interested in torrents or downloads as I like to enjoy the races live.

If it was available I would definitely pay for Sky Sports F1 but it doesn't seem to be available in Australia.

[MIKA27]

For the Aussies out there do most of you watch the live F1 coverage on Channel 10 or are there other avenues which you use to watch the races live? I'm not interested in torrents or downloads as I like to enjoy the races live.

If it was available I would definitely pay for Sky Sports F1 but it doesn't seem to be available in Australia.

I tend to watch the live races on free to air TV myself.

What I don't like is that they used to telecast the races on ONE HD in Vic, but now just standard television with commercials.

Its no biggie, seeing a lot of other countries have to pay exorbitant prices just to have the privilege

[NaFFe]

yea one hd in sydney

[Pedro2486]

For the Aussies out there do most of you watch the live F1 coverage on Channel 10 or are there other avenues which you use to watch the races live? I'm not interested in torrents or downloads as I like to enjoy the races live.

If it was available I would definitely pay for Sky Sports F1 but it doesn't seem to be available in Australia.

I watch the coverage on One HD in perth. I'm going to look into web based coverage now my NBN is connected.

[Pedro2486]

Nice qualifying session!!!!

Looking like a great race on the cards. Come on Riccardo

[PaulP]

Qualifying

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.681
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:45.688 +0.007
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:45.854 +0.173
4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:45.902 +0.221
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:45.907 +0.226
6 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.000 +0.319
7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.170 +0.489
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:46.187 +0.506
9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:46.250 +0.569
10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:47.362 +1.681
11 Jenson Button McLaren 1:46.943
12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:46.989
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:47.308
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:47.333
15 Sergio Perez Force India 1:47.575
16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:47.812
17 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:48.324
18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:49.063
19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:49.440
20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:50.405
21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:50.473
22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:52.287

[ATGroom]

I watch the coverage on One HD in perth. I'm going to look into web based coverage now my NBN is connected.

I generally watch it on 10 as well. If you Google "live f1 streaming" or something like that you will find a few sites that have the Sky feed live and free ... legality dubious. The Channel 10 websites streams their broadcast (including ads and occasional annoying local commentators) if for some reason you have access to a computer but not a TV.

[MIKA27]

Qualifying

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.681

2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:45.688 +0.007

3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:45.854 +0.173

4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:45.902 +0.221

5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:45.907 +0.226

6 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.000 +0.319

7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.170 +0.489

8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:46.187 +0.506

9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:46.250 +0.569

10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:47.362 +1.681

11 Jenson Button McLaren 1:46.943

12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:46.989

13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:47.308

14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:47.333

15 Sergio Perez Force India 1:47.575

16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:47.812

17 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:48.324

18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:49.063

19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:49.440

20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:50.405

21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:50.473

22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:52.287

Thank you again Paul

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON MAKES MOST OF ROSBERG MISFORTUNE IN SINGAPORE

Helped by a dose of good fortune Lewis Hamilton stormed to an emphatic victory at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday to wrest the championship lead from Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg after the German retired with steering wheel problems.

The Briton overcame an extended safety car period midway through the race, as well as the twin Red Bull challenge of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, to move three points clear of Rosberg with five races remaining.

“I had a dream this would happen last night… I just want to say huge thanks to my team,” Hamilton said in a podium interview.

“I was so excited, I was looking for a clean weekend (without mechanical problems), and I had it. We always strive to get both cars one-two that was our goal, so things still to work on.”

Fernando Alonso ended a good weekend for Ferrari with a solid fourth place finish on a hazy Singapore night with Brazilian Felipe Massa rounding out the top five in his Williams.

For Hamilton, the race could not have gone any better after he arrived in Singapore trailing Rosberg by 22 points and in desperate need of a strong finish to ensure he maintained his bid for a second world title after his 2008 triumph.

He saved his best for last in qualifying on Saturday to claim pole position from his team mate and when Rosberg was unable to get his Mercedes moving at the start of the formation lap, the writing was on the wall for the German.

Rosberg was forced to start from the pitlane at the back of the field and when Hamilton stormed clear into the first corner, he always looked on course to record his seventh victory of the season, and 29th overall, in the fastest car on the track.

The German retired in the pits after 14 laps when he could not get the car going again despite another change of steering wheel.

“The whole steering wheel just wasn’t working so I didn’t have any hybrid power and the shiftingI would shift two gears at once all the time and I had no DRS,” he told Sky Sports television.

“The car just wasn’t working at all. And then there was no point to continue. It was a tough day really.”

Only the inevitable safety car period, for seven laps midway through the race following Adrian Sutil’s collision with Sergio Perez, added an element of doubt to the proceedings but Hamilton managed his tyres brilliantly to claim victory by 13.5 seconds.

“Coming to the last six races after I had a great race in Monza (where he won), we know we have a car to compete here,” Hamilton added.

“I got off cleanly and of course it would have been a hardcore race if Nico was in the race with me… but later on in the race, I was a bit unaware of what I needed to do.

“I was nervous that if a safety car came out it would cause big problems but fortunately we got where we needed to go.”

Vettel, Ricciardo and Alonso opted to go all the way to the finish once the safety car came in on the 37th of the 60-lap race, forcing Hamilton to build as big a lead as possible before pitting again to fit some soft ‘prime’ tyres.

When he emerged back on the track on the 52nd lap, Vettel was ahead and Ricciardo snapping at his heels but the Briton was able to make the most of his fresher tyres and performed a magnificent pass on the German through turn seven to reclaim the lead for good.

“It is a circuit I really enjoy,” said Vettel, who won the previous three Singapore races and qualified fourth on the grid.

“The atmosphere is great but it is tough. I had a good start, got past Daniel, then had a decent race, but the safety car came at the worst point for us with tyres borderline.”

Jean-Eric Vergne drove brilliantly in his Toro Rosso to claim sixth place, his best finish of the season, with Sergio Perez, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen completing the top 10.

[MIKA27]

VETTEL: I WASN’T VERY CONFIDENT WE COULD DO IT

After four years of dominance it i hard to believe that Sebastian Vettel’s second place in the Singapore Grand Prix is his best result of the 2014 season. The Red Bull driver and reigning Formula 1 World Champion spoke after a tough afternoon on the city streets of Marina Bay Circuit.

Your best result of the year: what is it with Singapore and you?

Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, kid did well! It’s a circuit that I really enjoy, I really like. The atmosphere is great. You know, on the drivers’ parade there are already so many people in for the race. It’s great. It’s a tough one, it’s two hours and again we went to the full two hours. I had a good start, got past Daniel and then I think we had a decent race. We played a little bit with strategy and then the safety car came in the worst possible moment for us. So we tried to obviously stay out with the last set of tyres and make them work, which was very, very much borderline. I had a lot of pressure from Daniel and also from Fernando behind, but very happy obviously to make it P2.

The dehydration, the heat, the temperature. A huge race here is it? Is it very, very difficult?

SV: Yeah, it’s quite hot. The cars are sliding a lot, so you have to focus quite hard. It’s definitely a race we all enjoy as drivers because it’s such a big challenge and to stand up here and get a cool glass or bottle of champagne is quite nice.

Clearly the start was decisive for you. A fantastic initial getaway up into second place, you got the place back from Fernando. You were also a little bit sceptical when it came to the strategy, saying “that’s not my plan,” to go to the finish. So, tell us about the thinking at that point and how the race played out from your mind…

SV: As you mentioned, the start obviously was good for me. Quite weird to stop with no car ahead but not being on the first row. But it helped, obviously, because I had no car in front and I could get side by side and get straight into second place. After that I think we had a good race. Not ideal, in terms of timing with the safety car. Obviously, before that we lost a position to Fernando because we stopped too late – but we decided to go on the primes and we were hoping for no safety car to come out, which came out, so not ideal! But yeah, after that, obviously after the restart, we knew it was difficult with 27 seconds to make up on older tyres than everyone behind – it’s probably impossible. So, obviously to get the best result we knew we have to get to the end. I wasn’t very confident that we can do it, simply because of the wear we had the sets before. Obviously for one lap I was in the lead. The overtaking manoeuvre, I wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. I thought that I give him all the space to pass me on the inside for the next corner but it seemed like he couldn’t wait to get back in the lead. It was quite tight but I saw him, obviously, so I had to back-off and let him through. There was no point fighting him at that stage because I didn’t have the tyres to match him. Nevertheless, to finish P2 obviously was the best we could do. We had the oldest set of tyres in the last stint, so it was quite tricky managing those to the finish line with not much tread left. Obviously very good result for the team.

What was the plan to have the harder tyre, the prime tyre, in the third stint rather than at the end, because at that moment, I don’t think you could know that the safety car would come out?

SV: I guess in my case Fernando undercut us, it was quite obvious, and then I think it was pretty pointless to do the same as him so we tried to do opposite and then get him back obviously, in the last stint of the race, I think that was the plan. With hindsight, we should have obviously stopped earlier, tyres were at the end of their wear life anyway so I think that was the plan. It was obviously high risk because of the safety car. In the end, we got lucky because the tyres held up but at that stage it didn’t look like it.

[MIKA27]

RICCIARDO: I WAS CONCERNED WE WOULDN’T GET IT TO THE FLAG

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo messed up his start but then did well to recover and claim third place at the end of a tense and incident packed Singapore Grand Prix, after which he spoke to media.

Singapore is almost like a home race really?

Daniel Ricciardo: Yeah, feels like a home race. Singapore to Perth is pretty much as close as Melbourne to Perth, so for West Australia it’s like another home race.

Do you think that when Fernando gave up the place to Sebastian, do you think he should have given up the place to you?

DR: To be honest, I’ll have to have a look. Obviously he went off, that was clear. I knew he would give it back to Seb [but] whether he had to give it back to me, I’ll have a look at that. I was just sort of focused on regrouping from the start really. To get on the podium I guess is not a bad result, good for the team and at least we’ve got some Aussie flags.

Not a great initial getaway, you lost the initiative to Sebastian there, which is why you finished behind him in the end. Tell us whether you expected the attack from Alonso at the end because obviously he had pitted under the safety car, was on much fresher tyres than you . Were you surprised the attack didn’t come? What was going through your mind?

DR: Yeah, I think the closing stages, I could see after the restart for the safety car, he wasn’t attacking as much as I thought with a new set of primes, so I thought he was holding back and was going to make a late charge at the end. I think we all just piled up. I caught the back of Sebastian, he caught the back of me and we were all in a train and not really any real opportunities arose for any of us. So, it was what it was. I probably did expect him to come on a bit stronger at the end but I think once you start following and trying to get the pedal down a bit harder to set up a pass, then you start hurting the rears and you all fall into each others’ pace. The start initially wasn’t too bad but just before Turn One we had a bit of an issue and I think we lost a bit of power. Whether we could have held on or not… who knows? But then yeah, Fernando went wide and then gave the place back to Seb and the race from there was fairly straightforward. Encountered a few other issues and bits and pieces here and there – so we’ll have to look into that. See how much it cost us in the end. But obviously it was nice to get on the back of Seb and try to put him under a bit of pressure but I think for all of us here it was follow-the-leader a bit and not much else to do.

You were on the radio during the race saying that you were losing power and I believe gears. What was happening and was the team able to help you correct those matters?

DR: Yeah, we had quite a bit going on during the race so yeah, power was coming and going and from the safety car onwards it was pretty consistently down on power and basically, coming up through gears, I would get a bit of power and then it would drop and then it would come again. So we definitely had a few issues and we tried fixing them but to be honest we didn’t quite clear it all up. I guess it did cost us a bit today but obviously we still got it to the end but obviously we will definitely look at what the cause was and if we can fix it. Normally, if we have those glitches after a couple of laps we clear it but this one pretty much carried through all race. I guess I was a bit frustrated, bit concerned as well that we wouldn’t get it to the flag but luckily it held on and as I said, we’ll just look at it and I’m sure we’ll fix it for Japan.

[MIKA27]

HONDA PLAN ALONSO CHARM OFFENSIVE AT SUZUKA

Even in the midst of Fernando Alonso’s anger and warnings, reports about his future just will not go away and it appears that Honda are still determined to lure the Spaniard to McLaren.

Speaking with foreign-language reporters on the eve of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, the Spaniard flew into a rage when faced with the latest wild speculation about his impending Ferrari exit.

Hinting that the leaks are coming from within Maranello, Alonso had said on Thursday: “If I do say something, I will do it in a few weeks time and somebody will not like what it is.”

Still, the reports keep coming.

The latest are being heard from the Japanese corners of the paddock, just two weeks ahead of the country’s own Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Suzuka, of course, is owned by the Japanese manufacturer Honda, who have been repeatedly linked with a big-money effort to sign Alonso to McLaren for 2015 as the highly-anticipated works Formula 1 collaboration kicks off.

Speed Week reports that Japanese sources are saying Honda is prepared to ‘move mountains’ behind the scenes at Suzuka early next month to convince Alonso to leave Ferrari.

The report said Honda is apparently fully prepared to buy out the remainder of his lucrative Ferrari contract to make it happen.

Crisis-struck Ferrari, however, having already parted with big names like Domenicali, Marmorini and di Montezemolo in 2014, will not want to now lose Alonso.

“Without Fernando Alonso,” Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda is quoted as saying, “Ferrari would be nowhere.”

[MIKA27]

Bottas pays price for two-stopper

Disappointed at missing out in Singapore, Valtteri Bottas revealed his tyres just "weren't able to hold on" having switched to a two-stopper.

With the Safety Car coming out midway through the grand prix, some teams opted to swap from three stops to two. Williams was one of those.

But while Felipe Massa was able to use his two-stopper to make ground on his rivals, Bottas' cost him a points-finish.

Running sixth with five laps to go, the Finn eventually crossed the line down in 11th place as his tyres let go.

He revealed: "After the Safety Car we moved to a two-stop strategy and in the end the tyres just weren't able to hold on.

"In the final lap I had a big lock up in the rear tyres when I was defending and after that I had no grip and cars could easily sweep past.

"I also had an issue with the power steering in the final stint and this made it harder to keep the tyres alive as I lost a lot of feeling in the car. If I hadn't had this issue then I might have been able to go until the end."

He added: "Obviously I'm disappointed not to finish in the points but we can take a lot of positives from this weekend as we looked competitive at a track that is less suited to our car and we have kept third place in the Constructors' Championship."

[MIKA27]

'Plucky' Magnussen sent for treatment

Kevin Magnussen was forced to visit the medical centre following the Singapore GP after things got a bit too hot in his car.

The McLaren driver started ninth at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and finished 10th, but he was really forced to work for that point in hot and humid conditions.

He was suffering from dehydration throughout the race as his water was too hot to drink and burning his mouth. He was also forced to cool his hands by waving them in the air on several occasions while his seat was "burning".

The Woking squad confirmed after the race that he had been taken to the medical centre for treatment and they are investigating what caused his cockpit to overheat.

"For Kevin, who had driven such an excellent qualifying lap here yesterday, this afternoon was gruelling; there's no other word," Racing Director Eric Boullier said. "His first stint was satisfactory, but in stint two he began to experience tyre degradation to a greater degree than we'd predicted, forcing us to convert his strategy from a two-stopper to a three-stopper.

"To add injury to insult, he was then subjected to severe bodily discomfort as his car's cockpit began to overheat, necessitating his holding his arms aloft, first one then the other, in an effort to direct cooling air down his sleeves and inside his race-suit, which was an unusually painful complication for him.

"In the end, after an impressively plucky drive in extremely challenging conditions, he was able to score a single point for the team. It was scant consolation, of course it was, but it's indicative of his tremendous fighting spirit, and I commend him for it."

Magnussen described his point as "the hardest ever earned".

"It was a very, very tough grand prix," the Dane said. "During the race, I don't know if there was something wrong with the car, but my seat started getting very hot, which made things extremely uncomfortable for me.

"Without that, I think we could have done better than 10th, but at least we got that one point. It's better than nothing.

"It was the hardest point I've ever earned."

[MIKA27]

JEV: This feels like a podium

Jean-Eric Vergne believes he showed his true potential with a gutsy display at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Frenchman is essentially driving for his Formula 1 future after Toro Rosso confirmed a few months ago that he will be replaced by teenager Max Verstappen next year.

He proved exactly what he is capable of at the Marina Bay Street Circuit as he came from 12th on the grid to finish sixth despite two five-second stop-go penalties.

That took his points tally to 19 for the season - 11 more than his rookie team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

"Sixth is like a podium for us, and I am extremely happy," Verge is quoted as saying by Autosport.

"It's good for me and this season I need to push for next year. Today I think I showed my potential. I think I did everything I could today."

[MIKA27]

Gutierrez: Almost impossible to score

Esteban Gutierrez's frustrations got the better of him in Singapore when he angrily threw his gloves after yet another retirement.

The Mexican racer failed to reach the chequered flag for the sixth time this season when his C33 gave up on him at the Marina Bay circuit.

His race came to an end on lap 18 due to an electrical problem with the power unit.

Back in the Sauber garage, Gutierrez threw his gloves down in disgust as it was yet another race without a single point for the team.

"There is not much to say about the race," he lamented. "At the moment it is almost impossible to achieve good results.

"We have to extract 120 percent from what we have, but with these issues we are having it makes things complicated. There is nothing that I can do to guard against these problems at the moment.

"We have to look forward to the next races and need to take every chance that we get. Keep fighting will be the most important objective for us as a team at the moment."

His team-mate Adrian Sutil joined him in retirement on lap 41 when his C33 suffered a water leak.

[MIKA27]

Mercedes blame wiring loom for Rosberg retirement

Nico Rosberg’s retirement from the Singapore Grand Prix was blamed on a fault with his car’s wiring loom by his Mercedes team.

Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff said “it looks like a loom in the steering column failed and that was the root of his problems”.

“When he came back to the garage I told him we were sorry to have let him down,” Wolff added, “and he handled the whole situation in a very professional way”.

It was the fourth time this year one of the team’s cars has failed to score due to a technical problem, and they have also been compromised by failures during qualifying.

“We have a missile of a car this year but these reliability issues keep tripping us up,” said Wolff. “The parts will be sent back to base tonight for forensic analysis by our reliability group.”

“We have an excellent team dedicated to quality and we will track down this failure and make sure it does not happen again.”

Wolff also praised an “incredible” performance by race winner Lewis Hamilton. “After the Safety Car came in, it needed qualifying laps every time round to build the gap – and he did that faultlessly.”

“These are the days when drivers like Lewis show what makes the difference between star drivers and the superstar drivers. Congratulations to him.”

[MIKA27]

Alonso rues ‘unfortunate’ Safety Car timing

Fernando Alonso said Ferrari had the right strategy for the Singapore Grand Prix but they were caught out by the timing of the Safety Car.

Alonso split the Red Bulls at the start of the race, then moved ahead of Sebastian Vettel when the pair made their second pit stops. But the Safety Car came out shortly afterwards, and Alonso fell behind both Red Bulls when he came in for a third time.

“A little bit unlucky [today] probably with the Safety Car,” Alonso told reporters afterwards.

“When it happened we find ourselves with the super-soft. With Hamilton it worked, the strategy, but he has a two seconds advantage to open the gap necessary to do the final stop, we don’t have that margin.

“So we stop and at the end we were not able to overtake the Red Bulls with fresh tyres – and it’s a street circuit. The strategy I think was good, just the moment of the Safety Car was a a bit unlucky.”

However Alonso said there were “a lot of positives this weekend” after one of Ferrari’s strongest showings of the season so far.

“We were competitive in free practice, which normally we are, but then in the qualifying and the race we are not any more fighting with the leaders.

“We did today, that’s some positive, but we need to keep improving because it’s not enough.”

[MIKA27]

MERCEDES TEAMS AGAINST RELAXING ENGINE FREEZE

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has declared his obvious resistance to moves to relax Formula 1’s engine freeze, and fellow engine Mercedes powered teams share his views

The German marque has utterly dominated in 2014, producing a clearly superior turbo V6 ‘power unit’ than its engine rivals Renault and Ferrari.

Despite the fixed homologation of the power unit specification, the struggling suppliers can make substantial changes for 2015 in the form of a ‘token’ system that allows for an up to 48 per cent design overhaul.

But also being discussed is that, in the event of another situation like 2014 where one manufacturer is clearly ahead, engine makers have the opportunity to catch up mid-season.

“Formula 1 is not just about different engines,” Monisha Kaltenborn, whose Sauber team uses the underpowered Ferrari power unit, said in Singapore. Engines do play a role there but the gap should not be that big.”

It is believed the prospect of one in-season engine development push has been discussed by team bosses recently, with many other non-Mercedes teams also thinking it is a good idea. For obvious reasons, the Mercedes runners are opposed.

“No!” said Claire Williams, whose Grove based team has emerged from a slump in 2014 after switching from Renault power. “You have to enter the season with your race car and, if you haven’t done a good enough job, then why change the regulations?”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has the same attitude, “The further development of engines is absolute nonsense. If you are not sorted out by the homologation of 28 February for the year, why should it be any different three months later?”

[Pedro2486]

MERCEDES TEAMS AGAINST RELAXING ENGINE FREEZE

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has declared his obvious resistance to moves to relax Formula 1’s engine freeze, and fellow engine Mercedes powered teams share his views

The German marque has utterly dominated in 2014, producing a clearly superior turbo V6 ‘power unit’ than its engine rivals Renault and Ferrari.

Despite the fixed homologation of the power unit specification, the struggling suppliers can make substantial changes for 2015 in the form of a ‘token’ system that allows for an up to 48 per cent design overhaul.

But also being discussed is that, in the event of another situation like 2014 where one manufacturer is clearly ahead, engine makers have the opportunity to catch up mid-season.

“Formula 1 is not just about different engines,” Monisha Kaltenborn, whose Sauber team uses the underpowered Ferrari power unit, said in Singapore. Engines do play a role there but the gap should not be that big.”

It is believed the prospect of one in-season engine development push has been discussed by team bosses recently, with many other non-Mercedes teams also thinking it is a good idea. For obvious reasons, the Mercedes runners are opposed.

“No!” said Claire Williams, whose Grove based team has emerged from a slump in 2014 after switching from Renault power. “You have to enter the season with your race car and, if you haven’t done a good enough job, then why change the regulations?”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has the same attitude, “The further development of engines is absolute nonsense. If you are not sorted out by the homologation of 28 February for the year, why should it be any different three months later?”

With about a ten second advantage I bet they're not

[MIKA27]

LOTUS: WE COULDN’T CONVERT THE POTENTIAL INTO REALITY

Pastor Maldonado finished twelfth with Romain Grosjean directly behind him in thirteenth after a full and eventful Singapore Grand Prix on the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The race – which featured a safety car period – ended due to the time limit being reached rather than completing the allotted number of laps.

• Romain started from P16 on new super soft compound tyres, changing to scrubbed super softs on laps 10 and 22, then new softs on lap 30.
• Pastor started from P18 on new super soft compound tyres, pitting on lap 11 for a set of new super soft tyres, then on laps 23 and 30 for sets of scrubbed super soft tyres. He made a final stop for a set of new soft tyres on lap 31.

Romain Grosjean: “It was hot out there; things were looking pretty alright until the safety car, we were fighting for points. Unfortunately, I tried to attack too hard on the restart. I wanted to give it everything and with cold soft tyres after a slow safety car period, it was just too much once at the corner. From then on, I couldn’t pass back up through the field to get points.”

Pastor Maldonado: “We got the maximum out of our performance today and we had a strong consistent race. I’m pretty happy about this after the issues we had earlier in the weekend. I pitted once more than the others during the safety car period but it didn’t affect my position. It was a tough race, especially the last ten laps where the tyres needed a lot of managing, but I think we were able to do a great race today.”

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: “We were very close to scoring points with Pastor and Romain today. Unfortunately we couldn’t convert the potential into reality in the end but the team did a great job to get both cars to finish the race after the difficulties that we had through the course of the weekend. So I’m happy. Not rock and roll, but happy.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “Unfortunately we didn’t have the pace to challenge for points today but we were very close, closer than we have been for a long time. The safety car period obviously influenced our race strategy so it’s hard to say what the maximum could have been were it not for that. We’re pleased with the improvement of the E22 which we hope to be able to harness in the next races.”

Simon Rebreyend, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: “After the disappointment of yesterday, the Power Unit performed well today, with no issues at all, which is the minimum requirement for every weekend. The drivers were therefore able to show a much more representative pace in the race and could race the Saubers, Force Indias and Toro Rossos. This is much more where we should be and gives confidence for the next race in Suzuka.”