FORMULA 1 - 2014

[MIKA27]

MCLAREN: A DISAPPOINTING RACE FOR THE ENTIRE TEAM

The 2014 Singapore Grand Prix was a disappointing race for the entire team.

Kevin Magnussen’s race was badly affected by extreme heat build-up in his car’s cockpit, which was exacerbated by the slows laps spent behind the Safety Car during the middle of the race. One of the few runners inside the top 10 who needed to change tyres during the post-Safety Car stint, he fought back bravely on fresh rubber, finally clinching a single point for 10th on the final lap.

Jenson’s race seemed to be coming together as the grand prix entered its final stages – he was running a strong seventh, set to overtake Valtteri Bottas for sixth, when a power box failure shut his car down just eight laps from the finish.

On a happier note, our pit-stop crew performed admirably today – their super-consistent stop-times of 2.23s, 2.31s, 2.32s, 2.33s and 2.34s ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th overall today.

Kevin MagnussenL “It was a very, very tough grand prix. 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.”

Jenson Button: “I was cueing things up for the end of the grand prix: I’d been looking after the tyres for the whole stint, and I knew the last five laps were when things were going to get tricky for Valtteri ahead of me. I’d just switched the car into a different mode, and the chase was starting to get quite exciting. Then, a few corners later, the car just died going into the hairpin. Going across the bridge, it just turned off, so I had to stop. I’d been really looking forward to the end of the race, because I definitely think I’d have got past Valtteri. But it just didn’t work out – I was pretty unlucky.”

Eric Boullier, racing director, McLaren Mercedes: “To score just a single world championship point, after two hours’ toil in intense heat and humidity, is of course extremely disappointing for the entire team. For Jenson, who was driving exceptionally well in seventh place, cleverly optimising a tricky two-stop strategy, to be forced to retire with power box failure was an especially bitter blow. For Kevin, who had driven such an excellent qualifying lap here yesterday, this afternoon was gruelling; there’s no other word. 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 t’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.”

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FORCE INDIA: A FANTASTIC RESULT IN AN EVENTFUL RACE

Sahara Force India scored 8 points in Singapore with Sergio Perez racing to seventh and Nico Hulkenberg finishing in ninth place. The team now sits fifth in the championship with 117 points.

Sergio Perez: “The race really had everything for me and the final laps were very enjoyable. I was very happy with our performance today and, most importantly, we finished ahead of our direct competitors. Those in front of me at the end had big tyre degradation, but this affected me as well. When I caught the train ahead I didn’t have much grip either and this made each one of the overtakes a bit more difficult. We managed our tyres perfectly and to go from P15 to P7 was the reward we deserved. It was a great result for the team; they did a fantastic job with the strategy and it worked very well for both Nico and me. Today was one of those results where the race gives you a fantastic feeling: it’s more than just scoring the points – it’s about how you gained the result. Everything gets thrown at you but you don’t give up and come back strongly to get the points.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “It’s good to be in the points and from a team perspective it’s been a successful day. This is always a difficult race, especially from a strategic point of view, and maybe we could have achieved even more today. After the safety car I had to do a 30-lap stint on the soft tyres and like most of the cars ahead I was running out of grip towards the end of the race. With hindsight it would have been better to pit again for fresh tyres and we probably could have finished even higher up, but it’s always a difficult decision for the team with the information we had at the time. The good news is that we got two cars home in the points.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director: “To come away from Singapore with eight points in our pocket and fifth place in the championship is a fantastic result. It was an eventful race, especially for Checo, and it was only in the closing laps that the race came back to us. We had to make some difficult decisions on the pit wall today, but I think on the whole we made the right ones. There was a bit of luck, too, but we made the most of our opportunities and Checo and Nico drove extremely well. It sets us up well for the final five races where it’s crucial that we continue to score well with both cars.”

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TORO ROSSO: WE ARE VERY, VERY PLEASED

Toro Rosso team report from the Singapore Grand Prix, Round 14 of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship, at Marina Bay Circuit.

Jean-Eric Vergne: “It feels great. It was a fantastic race and I’m extremely happy, especially considering the two 5 second penalties. I had to push as much as possible in the last laps and pull away and this is what I’ve done. I had a lot of fun overtaking the ones in front of me, an incredible race. I did a mistake yesterday in Qualifying and I said to the team that I would have done everything for them to forgive me today and I think I could manage it in the end. So I’m really happy also for the guys, they gave me a good car and the 6th place repays their big effort, we deserved it. I’m really confident we can have a good end of the season together and I’m looking forward to Japan, where we also have some updates. Hopefully we can improve even further.”

Daniil Kvyat: “It was a very tough race today in which I had to fight more with myself than with the cars around me. The car was quite difficult to drive and it was sliding a lot. It was also hard work to take care of the tyres. Unfortunately I also had a problem with my drink system, so I was without water for the whole race, which definitely made it a much tougher race. I think points could have been possible, so well done to JEV, who did a great job today!”

Phil Charles (Chief Race Engineer): “We are very, very pleased! JEV drove an absolutely fantastic race. He had to deal with two 5 second penalties, but having taken his first, with the second we knew the time would be added on at the end, so we kept him informed of the gap to those behind him, after he pulled off some brilliant passing moves and he managed to finish more than the 5 seconds ahead of the seventh placed driver, so he keeps his sixth place. He did absolutely everything right. The team worked very well today and everything generally went to plan, with the strategy working out well, so we are all very happy for JEV. He has been due a decent result, because he’s been doing a good job this year, but has had more than his share of bad luck. Daniil was particularly unlucky as he had a drinks bottle problem right from the start, so it was a physically very difficult race for him, as he was unable to drink and was getting dehydrated from quite early on. We’re sorry for him that we had that kind of problem, as it compromised his race.”

Ricardo Penteado (Renault Sport F1 track support leader): “An amazing result for JEV, who fought back hard from qualifying and two penalties during the race. Daniil struggled without hydration in this very physical race and did well to get to the end. The Power Unit worked well over the race and energy management on JEV’s car in particular was very good, allowing him to use his newer tyres at the end to gain so many positions. It was a perfect finish for a difficult weekend.”

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SAUBER: A VERY DISAPPOINTING RACE

The Singapore Grand Prix ended in a huge disappointment for the Sauber F1 Team. Neither of the drivers finished the race. Esteban Gutiérrez had to retire on lap 18 due to an electrical problem with the power unit, while Adrian Sutil’s car had a water leak which forced the team to retire him on lap 41 so not to risk an engine failure.

Esteban Gutiérrez: “There is not much to say about the race. 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.”

Adrian Sutil: “It is very frustrating to retire again due to a technical failure. Today we were in a good position to score points. It was a difficult race, as we had problems with the engine at the beginning. However, we were able to fix it and continue with our planned strategy. Regarding the contact with Sergio (Perez), there is not much to say besides that suddenly he drove into the back of the car. Luckily the car was not damaged.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “That was a very disappointing race. Esteban particulary was in a good position, but he was forced to retire from the race once again due to a problem with the power unit. As Adrian’s car had a water leak, the team decided to retire him from the race so not to risk an engine failure. We now have to analyse the reason for this.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “Sadly once more our race finished before the chequered flag due to reliabiliy issues. On Esteban’s car there was, once again, an electrical problem with the power unit. Adrian experienced a water leak which forced us to stop him as a precautionary measure so not to damage the engine. Before that the race itself was going more or less the way we were expecting. Esteban was on a two stop strategy, but his race ended too early to know whether it would have worked. Adrian was on a three stop strategy, and I think we played it well during the safety car period in order to bring him back into the race, but then he had to stop. This was one of the races where we tried to cover all different possibilities, and in this sense everything was going according to plan. In the past we have seen that just getting the car to the finish line can be rewarded, but in this we failed, due to the reliability issues.”

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CATERHAM: A GREAT RESULT FOR THE TEAM

Caterham team report from the Singapore Grand Prix, Round 14 of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship, at Marina Bay Circuit.

Marcus Ericsson: “What a race! One of the best of my season so far, I have no doubt about it. I’m very pleased and happy for the whole team – this result is a great way of saying thank you for all the hard work and effort they put in yesterday. We can be very happy as we beat our closest rivals fair and square after having struggled quite a lot to keep up with them this weekend. We maximised our performance today. We followed a great strategy and I didn’t make any mistakes. I’m very pleased but we have to carry on working as hard as ever in order to build on this and make progress every race.

“We decided to stay out on the Prime tyres and I knew that Bianchi was going to catch me as he pitted in front of me, so I prepared myself as best as possible for the final four laps. I managed the tyres well and kept him behind. A great effort!”

Kamui Kobayashi: “What a frustrating way to end the race weekend here in Singapore. During the formation lap, all of a sudden I felt no power and then it smelt as if something was burning. Then I suddenly lost the brakes so I decided to stop the car because it was dangerous and I had nothing to do. I was really looking forward to this race and it’s a shame not to have been able to get out there and fight, but this happens sometimes in motorsport unfortunately.”

Manfredi Ravetto, Team Principal: “It’s ended up being a very positive weekend here in Singapore. We’ve managed to beat Sauber from a reliability point of view as well as beating Marussia out on track for the second race weekend in a row. We are definitely on our way up. I would like to thank every single member of the team, both here on track and back at the factory in Leafield – we’ve all worked very hard and I am proud of the whole team.”

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: “A great result for the team, with Marcus finishing ahead of both Marussias. From our side, however, it was not the most straightforward race. Unfortunately Kamui lost the CU-H at the start of the formation lap and had to stop. We need to look at why this happened in more detail back at Viry. Marcus also had some issues with the energy management system, so it was not optimal from a performance perspective. Nevertheless, we finished ahead of both of our closest rivals, which is a fantastic team effort.”

[westg]

For me one of the best GP I have watched for a while ...safety car I know ...very enjoyable would have liked to see Ricardo finish second. Was in Singapore only a week ago the place was a buzz then...was at the 2010 Sing GP quite a spectacle .

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For me one of the best GP I have watched for a while ...safety car I know ...very enjoyable would have liked to see Ricardo finish second. Was in Singapore only a week ago the place was a buzz then...was at the 2010 Sing GP quite a spectacle .

Watching the Singapore GP on TV isn't always the best race IMO but this one was pretty good. In saying this, I'd love to attend the race itself, being a night race and the fact that majority of Singapore are constantly out and about in the city having dinner at 3am would be a spectacle in itself.

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MATTIACCI: FOR THE MOMENT FERNANDO WILL CONTINUE

“There’s no smoke without fire,” declared a Formula 1 paddock regular in reference to the Fernando Alonso silly season situation, as the Spaniard’s future continues to be the subject of high speculation in Formula 1 circles.

In Singapore, Alonso expressed what appeared to be genuine anger during his media round with foreign-language reporters on Thursday, threatening to reveal the identity of the source of the latest reports emerging from Italy.

The implication was that the leak was from within the walls of Maranello itself, amid speculation McLaren-Honda has not given up its quest to secure the highly-paid, highly-coveted and undoubtedly frustrated Ferrari driver.

On Sunday, yet more ‘smoke’ from the Alonso camp continued to rise, after Niki Lauda said that “Without Fernando Alonso, Ferrari would be nowhere”.

Alonso seemed to do little to dispel that impression when he remarked after finishing fourth in Singapore that “The other Ferrari is 45 seconds behind me”.

Then came some curious comments not only from Alonso, but also the Ferrari team boss Marco Mattiacci who has said on a couple of occasions in the past days that Ferrari will be fielding an unchanged driver lineup in 2015.

When asked the question yet again under Singapore’s artificial late-night light, he answered on Sunday: “Fernando will continue. For the moment yes.”

And when also musing Alonso’s future, the Italian newspaper La Stampa quoted the Spanish driver as revealing that “There is an ongoing discussion” taking place behind closed doors.

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VERGNE SENDS TIMELY SIGNAL TO F1 TEAM BOSSES

Jean-Eric Vergne did his best to boost his chances of being back on the Formula 1 grid next year with a season’s best sixth place for Toro Rosso in Singapore on Sunday despite two penalties.

The Frenchman is being replaced by 16-year-old Max Verstappen for 2015, with the team indicating in Singapore that the Dutch driver will get a run in the car during practice at next month’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Vergne, in his third season, finds himself surplus to requirement at just 24 years old but shone under the Singapore spotlights nonetheless. After a difficult Saturday qualifying session at the Marina Bay street circuit, he catapulted up the grid from his 12th place position on Sunday.

He picked up a five second penalty early in his race for twice leaving the track at turn seven but battled back to ninth, entering the final laps only to suffer another five second punishment for the same offence.

Undeterred, he overtook Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Ferrari‘s Kimi Raikkonen and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas in the final two laps before opening up a large enough gap to swallow the penalty and keep the eight points for sixth place.

“It feels great. It was a fantastic race and I’m extremely happy, especially considering the two five second penalties,” Vergne said after the joint best result of his career.

“I was not good yesterday in qualifying and I made a mistake and I told the team that I was going to make it up today in the race and that’s what I’ve done. It’s a great result. Sixth is like a podium for us. It’s good for me…I need to push for next year. Today I think I showed my potential,” he added.

The points took Vergne onto 19 for the season, 11 more than his 20-year-old Russian teammate Daniil Kvyat who is staying on with Toro Rosso to partner Verstappen, who turns 17 this month. The total eclipses his previous best return of 16 points in his rookie 2012 season, but Vergne was eyeing more over the closing five races.

“I’m really confident we can have a good end of the season together and I’m looking forward to Japan, where we also have some updates. Hopefully we can improve even further,” he said.

Toro Rosso chief race engineer Phil Charles only had praise for the efforts of his departing driver, who outperformed a disappointing Kvyat in 14th.

“We are very, very pleased,” he said. “JEV (Vergne) drove an absolutely fantastic race. He had to deal with two five second penalties. He pulled off some brilliant passing moves and he managed to finish more than the five seconds ahead of the seventh-placed driver, so he keeps his sixth place.

“He did absolutely everything right. He has been due a decent result, because he’s been doing a good job this year, but has had more than his share of bad luck.”

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MCLAREN DENIES LOSING JOHNNIE WALKER BACKING

McLaren has hit back at reports claiming it is set to lose Johnnie Walker as a sponsor.

The Mirror’s Byron Young reported from Singapore that, with Bernie Ecclestone securing the whisky brand as a new Formula 1 sponsor, Johnnie Walker will now depart the British team.

But McLaren has told us the report in the major British tabloid was incorrect, as “Johnnie Walker remains an important and valued sponsor of McLaren”.

A team spokesman said the newspaper simply got the story wrong, “Yes, Johnnie Walker will be one of the sponsor logos on our 2015 car.”

The McLaren spokesman also moved to clear up some confusion about the condition of Kevin Magnussen after Sunday’s highly physical Singapore Grand Prix.

Reports claimed the Danish rookie had been treated for burns and dehydration in the medical centre after his McLaren overheated and his on-board drinking water boiled, but Magnussen insisted on Twitter: “That’s a bit exaggerated. I was just hot and sweaty!”

But the McLaren spokesman said Magnussen, 21, was indeed treated for “nasty burns” and then tried to “make light of it” on Twitter as he is a “tough Viking boy!”

It is believed Toro Rosso’s 20-year-old Daniil Kvyat was also dehydrated after his drink bottle failed in Singapore, while world champion Sebastian Vettel was suffering “severe stomach cramps” whilst spraying champagne on the podium.

RTL television said the Red Bull driver cancelled some of his media commitments after the race as he suffered from the effects of dehydration.

Just before he left the reporters, SID news agency quoted him as explaining the feeling of being passed for the lead by the winning Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

“Imagine driving a Fiat Panda and behind you is a Porsche 911,” he said.

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Boullier questions 'strange' Red Bull message

McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier believes Red Bull used coded radio messages during the Singapore Grand Prix.

The FIA announced a major clampdown on radio transmissions that help with car or driver performance ahead of the race weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

However, some of the restrictions were relaxed before FP1 on Friday but coaching in terms of where the driver was losing time, where to brake and how to corner quicker, among other things, remained banned.

Teams tried to best to avoid giving advice on Sunday, but Red Bull at one stage told Daniel Ricciardo, who had a problem with his battery, that "avoiding exit kerbs may help the problem with the car".

Boullier was not impressed and felt the Milton Keynes squad broke the new rules.

"We had no issues (with the new radio rules) on our side," he is quoted as saying by Press Association Sport. "It just made us more busy listening to others to make sure they made no mistakes, like Red Bull twice with Ricciardo.

"I think it was coded, but it is up to the FIA to investigate. It is not for me to investigate.

"But it was a strange message. Once was okay, but twice, three times? You can doubt what exactly the car problem was."

However, Red Bull confirmed via Twitter that they were given the all clear by race control.

"The FIA has confirmed to the Team that it's satisfied the messages were related to car reliability concerns, so no coded messages," it read.

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Horner: Down to duo to race each other

Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel have again been warned there will be no team orders at Red Bull until one of them can no longer win the title mathematically.

Mercedes remain clear-cut favourites to win the 2014 Championships, but both Ricciardo and Vettel are still in with a small chance with the Australian 60 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the standings after the Singapore GP and his team-mate another 57 points adrift.

However, the gap between Ricciardo and Hamilton could've been 57 points if Red Bull opted to impose team orders at the Marina Bay as Vettel finished just over a second ahead of his team-mate.

Horner, though, says it would be "wrong" for team bosses to interfere.

"Both mathematically have a chance, even though it's a long shot. So it's down to them racing each other on the track. It would be wrong to interfere with that in the situation we're in," he told Press Association Sport.

He added: "Daniel is totally comfortable and happy with the situation. If there was a realistic chance of Daniel winning and Sebastian was mathematically out of the Championship then we'd do the best we can for the team.

"But as I say, with the situation we're in at the moment it's a long shot."

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Rosberg: I was fuming in the cockpit

Nico Rosberg has spoken of his agony following a disastrous Singapore GP, and also urged Mercedes to work on their reliability.

The German's 22-point lead in the Drivers' Championship turned into a three-point deficit at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Sunday after he was forced to retire with an electrical problem.

However, his woes started before the race even got underway as he had a problem with his steering wheel shortly after he made his way to the grid. After failing to get going on the formation lap, he eventually started from the pitlane.

However, he lasted only 14 laps before calling it a day after his car failed to restart during a pit stop.

"It was the toughest day of the year for me and right now I only can say that I am in agony and desperately trying to come up with a logical explanation for all that," he told the official Formula 1 website.

He added: "I fumed in the cockpit, so I am already on the way to recovery now. I left most of the anger in the helmet!"

Rosberg explained that his problems started in the pits already before the race.

"Suddenly all the buttons and the radio stopped their function: I had no hybrid power, I had no DRS - only the gear paddles sort of worked, but what was kind of strange was I could only upshift two at a time, so I had no fourth gear and no sixth gear," he said.

"Then it all sort of came back for a few laps, only to disband again. It was hopeless. And in the end there was nothing I nor the team could do. For security reasons they called me in."

With the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuku less than a fortnight away, Rosberg called on the team to make sure the cars are more reliable.

"Reliability is our weakness," he said. "We have to get to the bottom of things. Reliability will be a major factor in the title race, but thinking that it will cost me the title is very pessimistic - and I am optimistic!

Asked what he demand from the team for Japan, he replied: "I don't 'demand' anything different to what I hoped for in the past. The team is focusing a lot on reliability and we are all trying to improve together."

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Kimi Raikkonen: Ferrari struggles in F1 rivals' slipstream

Kimi Raikkonen says the Ferrari Formula 1 team is being compromised by its car's weakness in the slipstream of rivals.

Raikkonen started seventh on the Singapore Grand Prix grid last weekend after a software glitch spoiled his final run in qualifying, but rose to fifth in the early part of the Marina Bay F1 race before getting jumped by Felipe Massa's Williams during the first round of pitstops.

The Finn found it difficult to make progress from there and was stuck behind the sister Williams of fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas for most of the second part of the event, before slumping to eighth in the latter stages as the fresher-tyred cars of Jean-Eric Vergne and Sergio Perez overtook.

Raikkonen said the Ferrari tends to lose too much rear downforce in the wake of other cars, which compromises the F14 T's ability to look after its tyres.

"Most of the race I was stuck behind the Williams, mainly Massa and then in the end Bottas," Raikkonen explained.

"I had a bit more speed than them but obviously you cannot get past.

"Running behind seems to affect us a lot. When you get close, you lose all the downforce and it just destroys your tyres.

"First of all you cannot get close enough to try to attack, then you lose your tyres.

"It's very disappointing.

"In race conditions it's very important to get clean runs.

"We've seen in the past that we have the speed, but when you get stuck behind somebody, the race is pretty much done."

Raikkonen said the prodigious straightline speed of the Williams cars had made his life even harder.

"It's hard to overtake. I got close to them a few times but coming out of the corners you just lose grip," he added.

"If you don't get the proper jump on them you cannot pass them on the straight.

"It's a strong point of their car, and here where you only have two places to overtake, it's very hard to get past."

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Felipe Massa: Williams's 'grandmother' style worked

Felipe Massa says he drove "like a grandmother" in order to keep his Williams Formula 1 car's tyres alive long enough to finish fifth in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Brazilian recovered from a difficult time in free practice to finish fifth on a type of track where Williams has struggled in the 2014 F1 season, having jumped Kimi Raikkonen's fast-starting Ferrari in the pits.

Massa said he had to drastically alter his driving style to complete a mammoth stint on soft tyres following the mid-race safety car.

"I was not so sure about keeping the tyres until the end - for me it did not seem possible, but I changed completely my driving style," he said.

"I was driving like a grandmother! Completely like that."

He admitted he initially thought the two-stop proposal was a joke.

"For me it was a joke when they said that, because there were still 25 or something laps to go - it was really a lot," Massa added.

"I said I don't think it will be possible, but let's try, and I changed completely my driving style.

"For sure I was a bit slower than I was supposed to be but still quicker than everybody behind so it was a good job."

STRATEGY WAS 'NO BRAINER'

Williams performance chief Rob Smedley said the team originally expected to pit both cars again, but switched strategies when it realised the length of the safety car period would help the drivers preserve their tyres.

"It gets to the point where it becomes a no-brainer," Smedley said.

"When the safety car first came out we thought 'right well we can't get to the end from here'.

"We had another set of primes [softs] and with how long we expected the safety car to stay out we thought we'd have to split the [rest of the] race in two.

"When the safety car stayed out so long it had a double effect: one, it shortened the race, because we reached the two-hour limit, and two, it meant we'd done lots of laps under the safety car on the tyres.

"And as it's thermal degradation [that limits you] here, we had zero degradation under those laps.

"So we said 'OK, that's 38 laps', which is effectively 31, we thought we could get to 21, so we were asking 10 more laps out of the tyres. It wasn't actually a big ask.

"We asked the drivers to slow their pace and manage the tyres, knowing that if we had traction towards the end of the race no one was ever going to get past us with the straightline speed [we have]."

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Battery glitch hampered Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo's hopes of overhauling Red Bull Formula 1 team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the Singapore Grand Prix were hindered by a battery problem on his car.

The Australian remains an outside contender for the 2014 F1 championship, but did not quite have the pace to beat Vettel to the runner-up spot behind Lewis Hamilton on Sunday.

Ricciardo was hamstrung throughout by a battery problem that hit him initially at the first corner and then returned later on.

Team principal Christian Horner said: "He had a problem on the run down to Turn 1 at the start. Then again, probably before half-distance, we had an issue with the battery which would not discharge.

"It required quite a lot of management to try to help him out and the problem was intermittent. On some laps he would lose three or four tenths, on some laps it would be nothing."

Ricciardo was unsure how much better he would have gone without the problem, and said it was strange the issue could not be solved.

"The power was coming and going and, from the safety car onwards, it was pretty consistently down on power," he explained.

"Coming up through gears, I would get a bit of power and then it would drop and then it would come again.

"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.

"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, a bit concerned as well that we wouldn't get it to the flag. But luckily it held on."

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LOTTERER: FORMULA 1 ISN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE

Le Mans stars Andre Lotterer and Mark Webber have made less than flattering comparisons between their sports car machines and the modern Formula 1 racer.

In their musings, today’s Formula 1 does not fare well. For instance, reigning Le Mans winner Lotterer made a one-off appearance for Caterham at Spa this year, but then reportedly turned down the chance to reprise his effort at Monza.

As a young Jaguar tester in 2001 and 2002, Lotterer came close to building a full career in Formula 1 but he admitted to NBC that although he “didn’t make it, I have a very happy and beautiful career”.

Lotterer, 32, said working at Le Mans with Audi is “amazing”, but he also races in Japan’s premier open wheeler series, Super Formula.

Andre Lotterer testing for Jaguar in 2001

“Then on the other side, I have the purest and fastest race cars around the corners in the world, in Super Formula,” he said. “They’re so precise, and you don’t want the race to end. The cars do exactly what you want. The combination of both things, sporting wise, are really good.”

He acknowledged that Super Formula cannot compete with Formula 1 in terms of its media profile, “For people who don’t know that much about racing, many think it [Formula 1] is the only thing. But in terms of racing, Formula 1 isn’t what it used to be anymore.”

“I got to feel that when I did my race. There’s not much grip from the tyres and not much downforce in the corners. You can’t go flat out. But it was still a good experience,” Lotterer added.

He hinted that he did not look into extending his 2014 flirt with Formula 1 due to the modern shape of the pinnacle of motor sport.

“Formula 1 could be another challenge but at 33 years old, you want to go into a good challenge,” said the Belgian-raised German.

“What I mean by that is that you’re in a team for 2-3 years, well funded and with everything healthy. But apart from the top 3-4 teams, nobody can offer you that in Formula 1. So 7-8 years ago there were more manufacturers, but now is not the right time,” he explained.

Also contemplating the difference between sports cars and Formula 1 in the past days has been Mark Webber, the 13-time Grand Prix winner who left the grid to join Porsche at the end of last season.

“One of the biggest differences between Formula 1 and a prototype is the downforce,” he is quoted by El Confidencial. “The other is the tyres.

“The Michelin (at Le Mans) is a real racing tyre, a tyre that everyone can enjoy, while the Pirelli in Formula 1 is for show business,” said Webber, 38.

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CATERHAM ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE AS NOW PIRELLI SEEK PAYMENT

Caterham could be left stranded without tyres to race with ahead of the forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, according to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf amid reports that the struggling team is on the verge of total collapse.

The report said a source close to Formula 1’s official tyre supplier has unofficially confirmed that Pirelli is warning Caterham it must urgently make a payment ahead of the Suzuka race early next month.

Backmarker Caterham almost collapsed mid-season following the withdrawal of support of founder Tony Fernandes, who sold the team suddenly to a little known group of Swiss-based Middle Easterners.

“I believe our team was not set up to race in Silverstone,” one of the new bosses, Manfredi Ravetto, confirmed in Singapore. “This is the truth.

Manfredi Ravetto (middle) with Christijan Albers and Colin Kolles

“Since new ownership came on board, I think we managed not only to race in Silverstone but also to arrive to Singapore. I must say it’s not a very easy task,” he admitted.

“The financial situation is not one of the easiest,” said Ravetto. “We inherited a situation which was more than critical.”

It is reported the situation was so critical that Christijan Albers, who became Caterham’s team boss after the takeover, quit once he realised that debts could not be paid.

De Telegraaf claims Pirelli “is one of the main creditors” of ailing Caterham, “The paddock is buzzing with reports that Caterham will not be in the paddock at the end of the season.”

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SCHUMACHER’S SON WANTS TO BE F1 WORLD CHAMPION

Michael Schumacher’s son Mick could well be on the ladder to Formula 1, and his goal is to emulate his legendary father to be Formula 1 world champion

As his famous father continued to recover from his skiing fall of last December, 15-year-old Mick Schumacher has become become the vice-champion of the FIA’s KF-Junior karting category.

The finals took place in France, where the younger Schumacher took part not under his usual false surname of Betsch, but as the German flag-carrying ‘Mick Junior’.

“Of course I am proud of such an important result,” Mick was quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport, “but it is also clear that my goal is to be world champion. But this is just the beginning of my career.”

Meanwhile, O Estado de S.Paulo reports that another youngster with a famous surname has become the new champion in the British Formula Renault series.

Pietro Fittipaldi, 18, is the Miami-born grandson of Brazil’s double world champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

“Pietro is racing brilliantly well,” Emerson Fittipaldi is quoted as saying. “After ten wins in 13 races, he won the championship. We are immensely happy and proud.”

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Lowdon: We will see out the season

Marussia sporting director Graeme Lowdon has dismissed speculation the team is in danger of folding before the end of the season.

Reports in the Singapore paddock claimed that the squad nearly failed to make it onto the grid in Italy a fortnight ago due to financial problems, but the Banbury squad competed both at Monza and the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Lowden is adamant they have the necessary funds to take part in the final five races of the 2014 campaign.

"We have an obligation to trade correctly, and if you don't reasonably believe you can do that, you have to stop. As simple as that, " he told Press Association Sport.

"Is it plain sailing, navigating a company through an industry that has the cost structure of Formula One? No.

"But if we didn't think we could be here, then we wouldn't be here.

"You don't want to give the wrong impression by glibly saying 'yes, we're fine' because it's always a challenge operating businesses in this environment.

"I can say that, yes, we have the funds for this season. If we didn't, we shouldn't be here."

There are also major question marks over the 2015 season with reports suggesting that Marussia and two other teams won't be on the gird next year as Formula 1 moves to an eight-team, three-car era.

Although Lowden admits they are not sure about next season, he is working hard to be there for the season-opening race in Australia.

"Nobody can state unequivocally they will be racing next season. Not a single person in this pit lane can do that," he said.

"Look at Honda, Toyota and BMW who all pulled out at the drop of a hat. They were companies who had finances to be in this sport, but chose not to.

"If it makes sense then people will be there, as simple as that.

"The people involved in Formula One are not crazy. We see long-term value in what we are trying to do, what we are trying to build.

"Obviously there are plenty of easier things in the world to do, and there are certainly easier ways to make money, that's absolutely for sure.

"But we believe in the long-term value of Formula One. We've said this a number of times, the biggest asset Formula One has to be its fanbase.

"It's enormous, unique, and is incredibly valuable, so that itself is sufficient for a team like us to build for the long term.

"But that also means there can be difficult times along the way."

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Button confident over McLaren future

Jenson Button insists he is "pretty happy" he will remain at McLaren next year as the wait over the team's 2015 driver line-up continues.

Both Button and team-mate Kevin Magnussen are facing uncertain futures with McLaren heavily linked with both Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel ahead of their link-up with Honda next year.

McLaren Group chairman and CEO Ron Dennis has publicly admitted that they are looking to sign high-profile drivers, but it remains to be seen if he will be able to lure Alonso and/or Vettel.

Button, though, believes he will be at Woking come the 2015 season.

"I'm not worried in any way about that," he told Press Association Sport. "I'm pretty happy I'll be here next year, and I feel I'm doing a good job right now.

"I just have to sort Saturdays (in qualifying) a bit more. I've been a bit unlucky and not got the best out of it every weekend, which annoys me more than anything else, but I'll get there."

McLaren will reportedly only announce their driver line-up at the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi at the end of November and racing director Eric Boullier says they know in which direction they are heading.

"We make progress every day, although there is absolutely no plan to announce anybody yet," said Boullier.

"It's down to Ron and I, but Ron has the last call as the owner and chairman of the company, although when it comes to protocol it is the board that has the last call.

"But Ron and I generally agree. On this subject (of the drivers) we are quite transparent and open together.

"We have our view, and have some preferences in the timing, but we are okay on what we expect, what we want, where we want to go, and it's working okay."

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Force India F1 boss hails team's courage in the Singapore GP

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley hailed his Formula 1 team for the "outrageous" courage it showed helping Sergio Perez rescue a seventh-placed finish from the Singapore Grand Prix.

Perez looked unlikely to score any points in Sunday's F1 race, after qualifying 15th and then breaking his front wing after a mid-race brush with Adrian Sutil's Sauber.

But Force India gambled on making a fourth pitstop with 16 laps to run, and Perez utilised his fresh tyres to come through to seventh as rivals attempting to finish the race on fewer stops struggled to keep their tyres alive.

Fernley praised his team for taking a "gamble" with Perez.

"The safety car brought it all back again, and credit to the engineering team, they took a courageous decision to bring him in," Fernley told AUTOSPORT.

"At the time it looked quite outrageous, but it obviously paid off. It was a gamble and it could have gone the other way."

Perez's Force India team-mate Nico Hulkenberg utilised a three-stop strategy to beat McLaren's Kevin Magnussen to ninth place, while Jenson Button's late retirement from seventh spot meant Force India re-passed McLaren for fifth in the constructors' championship in Singapore.

"We shot ourselves in the foot in qualifying - we didn't do the best job we could have done, and it was a difficult race to see," Fernley added.

"Nico did a fabulous job, because ideally we wanted to bring Nico in and do what we did with Checo.

"However, we had to have a banker out there and Nico was obviously the banker.

"We'd already got Nico in a position where he was clearly behind Jenson and we were minimising any damage.

"What helped us actually was the fact Jenson couldn't get past Bottas.

"Had he been able to do that and that train had unlocked, Checo wouldn't have got through and Nico would have got that banker.

"Our heart was to bring him in as well, but we just couldn't afford to take that chance."

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Rob Smedley hails Williams F1 team's 'best race' of 2014 season

Performance chief Rob Smedley reckons the way the Williams Formula 1 team operated in the Singapore Grand Prix is the best he has seen since he joined the squad.

Williams recovered from tyre-temperature problems in free practice to record a fifth-placed finish with Felipe Massa, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas also looked on course to score points until encountering a steering problem in the latter stages that destroyed his tyres.

Ex-Ferrari driver Massa said Williams had reacted like "a big team" in solving its free practice problems, and fellow ex-Ferrari man Smedley said this was Williams' strongest operational showing since he joined the squad in April.

"[Technical chief] Pat [symonds] said to me after the race that he thought this was the best race he's ever seen Williams operate in the 14-15 months he's been here, and I would second that," Smedley said.

"It wasn't just about what we did in the race, the whole weekend it was very much about the attitude we have and the science we apply and the experience we're able to apply to say 'right, we think this is the problem', and we pretty much knew what the problem was midway through FP2, so we looked at it and we solved it.

"We just got our heads down and came back out in a much better position on Saturday - we were about back to where we should have been, if not a little bit better.

"I don't think we expected to have that pace in qualifying or the race - I think that's really due to the great teamwork that goes on.

"We're operating better and better all the time.

"Ironically enough, [in scoring] one of our worst results in a long time we've operated much better than we have done since I've been here.

"If this team wants to win world championships it has to operate better than anybody in the pitlane.

"We went in with a well-founded plan and executed that plan and got ourselves in front of faster cars."

"A STRANGE" ISSUE FOR BOTTAS

Smedley said the team will investigate the "strange" steering issue that cost Bottas a points finish.

Smedley hailed the work Bottas did in making his tyres last for so long, and said the team would work to understand why the steering malfunctioned.

"The poor lad drove for 27 laps or whatever with a steering wheel that appears to have just a huge amount of friction in there," Smedley explained.

"He described it as he would turn the wheel and it would just sit there, so the self-aligning torque wasn't enough to pull the steering wheel back to the straight-ahead position.

"Very strange, so we'll have to have a look [at it].

"He just couldn't get a good feeling from the car."

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McLaren F1 team says it has no explanation to Magnussen heat issue

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says his Formula 1 team has no obvious explanation as to why Kevin Magnussen suffered heat issues in the cockpit during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Magnussen battled through the pain barrier to 10th place at the Marina Bay circuit, and had to be attended to by a doctor afterwards.

With no indication of what caused the problem coming to light on telemetry, the team has begun an investigation into what happened in the car, and especially why the water in his drinks bottle overheated.

"One big problem was the [drinking] water was boiling - it was boiling in his mouth every time he was drinking," explained Boullier.

"It was strange, I don't know why - they are investigating what was wrong because everything on the telemetry, like batteries, was normal."

Although Magnussen downplayed his situation afterwards with a stoical tweet, Boullier had nothing but praise for the way the Dane kept going.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if it was an heroic performance to finish in the points with all that he was going through, Boullier said: "It was. He was okay when he got out of the car, but you could feel that he gave it his all."

FIRST LAP DRAMAS NO WORRIES

Although Magnussen was praised for the way his race ended, Boullier admitted that there had been a little bit of frustration about his scrappy first lap - when he ran wide in his desperation to defend from team-mate Jenson Button.

"You don't like to see your cars off track, I think," he said. "And I don't want to protect him, but the rain last night also made the track a bit green.

"He was probably caught by surprise by the grip difference between qualifying and the race."

Boullier said McLaren was also waiting for information from Mercedes as to the cause of team-mate Jenson Button's car stopping when he was running in the points.

"It was a power box issue, and we are now waiting for the information from Mercedes as we have no access to this data."

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SILLY SEASON: BRIATORE WORKING TO TAKE ALONSO TO LOTUS

Reports about Fernando Alonso’s future at Ferrari continue to run wild in the aftermath of the Singapore Grand Prix.

La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed this week that the disgruntled Spaniard has now told the crisis-struck Maranello marque of his intention to leave.

Reportedly, this follows Alonso’s behind-the-scenes demands about his willingness to see out the remaining two years on his existing Ferrari contract.

La Gazzetta said Alonso placed a number of conditions on his continuation, including a new monetary bonus system based on his collection of points that could boost his salary to the tune of €100 million over the next three years.

And the newspaper also said that if Ferrari fails to reach certain performance milestones next year, another of Alonso’s demands is that he will be free to leave at any point.

Flavio Briatore with Lawrence Stroll (right) and Lance Stroll

It is said that Ferrari team boss Marco Mattiacci, who may subsequently have been in contact with Sebastian Vettel, has not agreed to Alonso’s reported demands.

The latest wild twist in the sensational Alonso reports is that Flavio Briatore, still involved in the 33-year-old driver’s career and the former team boss at Enstone, is opening the door for a Lotus seat in 2015.

Sport Bild claims the deal is tied up with reports of Canadian fashion billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s new interest in buying the struggling Enstone team.

Stroll would reportedly finance the Alonso deal as well as pay for Formula 1-leading Mercedes engines for the currently Renault-powered team.

Frenchman Jules Bianchi, the leading Ferrari academy driver and current Marussia racer, is named as another possible successor for a departed Alonso.