FORMULA 1

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FORCE INDIA: YOU’VE GOT TO GIVE YOUR TEAMMATE ROOM

Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon started the Singapore Grand Prix from seventh and ninth on the grid, double points finish a real possibility for the team in need of many points as possible but their drivers collided on the opening lap.

Not for the first time, the pink cars collided with Ocon tapped by teammate Perez which sent him into the wall. The FIA stewards deemed it a racing incident.

Later in the race, Perez did himself no favours later when he deliberately swerved into the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin, he admitted “frustration” in his duel with the Russian and as a result punted his car as the pair battled side by side.

Perez was given a drive-through penalty for his unsavoury antics, but many fans and indeed sections of the F1 paddock are up in arms with regards to his tactics.

Asked about the incident after the race, Perez said, “It’s a very unfortunate. As I’m picking up the power I get a clip from one car and I didn’t know it was Esteban. I was very sorry for that, it’s a big heart ache for us.”

“I don’t think I have much to say. I’m just very sorry for the team in general. I wish I could’ve seen Esteban there or have done something differently. It was a tough day for us especially after a good day yesterday but this is racing and hopefully we can improve in the next few races to get some points.”

With regards to the Sirotkin swerve, Perez said, “I closed the door earlier than I should have so I have to double check but I think the penalty was fair. It was hard racing, he was defending his position very hard, fighting very hard, moving a lot under braking and a lot of lock-ups under braking.”

“And then as I was going through him, I tried to close the door but I think he was too close. In the end not ideal. It was very costly, but I don’t think it would have changed anything on my result.”

“I knew my race was going out of my hands, it was so hard to overtake. I was just burning my brakes, my engine, my tyres, so it was a massive frustration,” explained the Mexican.

Ocon would not be drawn into the debate and told reporters, “I’m not going to comment or analyse what happened. I got a great start and had a good opportunity with good grip to go around Checo and the next thing I felt was a hit and I was in the wall.

“What I am going to analyse is that we had great pace the whole weekend. It was supposed to be a great weekend for both of us and right now I’m talking and the race is going on and we are going to come out of this with zero points and that’s terrible,” added the Frenchman.

Team chief Otmar Szafnauer was not happy, “It’s unacceptable for them to come together like that in an area where there’s no run-off room. If it’s your team-mate, you’ve got to give them room.”

“It’s been over a year since it happened. It was at Baku last year that we instilled the rules it was at Spa. From Spa until here it hasn’t happened.”

“So we’re back to the old rules. We allowed them to race on lap one whereas in the past we didn’t allow them to race on lap one and now we can remove that.”

“And if they continue to do this, even on lap one there’s other ways to separate them which we hope that we don’t ever have to employ,” added Szafanuer.

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HULKENBERG: 150 IS JUST A NUMBER

Today at the Singapore Grand Prix, Nico Hulkenberg started his 150th Formula 1 race, a milestone that the Renault driver says is just another number.

Speaking ahead of the landmark achievement, 31-year-old Hulkenberg acknowledged, “It’s a significant milestone to have been racing in Formula 1 for so long with that many races under my belt.”

But added, “It’s just a number at this stage and we have a challenge on our hands in the midfield battle, so I’ll be drawing on my experience and targeting a positive weekend in Singapore.”

At the age of 23 (pictured above) Hulkenberg made his F1 debut with Williams during the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix and spent one year with the team before being forced to sit out his second year until Force India offered him a break for 2012.

He remained with the Silverstone based team until the end of 2016, whereafter he joined Renault for 2017 and should be with them until at least the end of 2019, and perhaps beyond.

Although he has started from pole position once and led 43 laps, he has never won a race let alone finish on the podium in his 149 grand prix career starts thus far.

The German acknowledged, “Of course I would like to have achieved more, some wins and a few podiums would be good but we all know the story. I think I proved myself and that’s why I’m still here in Formula 1.”

As for the ‘no podium curse’ he said, “Sooner or later it will happen for sure, then I’ll get to spray a bottle or two and we will make sure it is empty to the last drop!”

Asked if he expected his F1 career to carry on beyond the end of 2019 when his contract with Renault expires, Hulkenberg replied, “Let’s see what happens… I’m sure I will.”

Currently, Hulkenberg is Best of the Rest in seventh in the championship standings with 53 points.

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Romain Grosjean three points from ban after Singapore sanction

Haas' Romain Grosjean is now three-quarters of the way towards picking up a one-race suspension from Formula 1 in the wake of copping a penalty for ignoring blue flags in Singapore.

Grosjean was attempting to overhaul Williams rival Sergey Sirotkin while simultaneously being caught by race leader Lewis Hamilton.

Grosjean ignored blue flags as he battled – and passed – Sirotkin for position, while Hamilton was unable to get by, resulting in the Mercedes driver’s losing his gap over Max Verstappen.

Hamilton ultimately kept Verstappen at bay and quickly re-established a buffer, aided in turn by the Red Bull driver being baulked by Grosjean through Turn 14.

Grosjean was handed a five-second time drop as well as two points on his license for the infraction.

That brings him to nine points, just three shy of hitting the 12-point mark that triggers an automatic one-event suspension.

No-one has reached 12 points, over the rolling 12-month timeframe, since the system was introduced.

Grosjean will not drop any of his points until the end of October, when it will be one year since he picked up a single penalty point at last season’s Mexican Grand Prix for abusing track limits.

It means that he must contest the next four Grands Prix – in Russia, Japan, the United States and Mexico – with nine points on his license.

He will shed two more points in mid-November, having copped those for colliding with Esteban Ocon on the opening lap of last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix

Grosjean was slapped with two points in Spain this year – for triggering the multi-car pile-up on the opening lap – and another two in France, when he again clashed with Ocon at the start.

“I think Romain just completely forgot the golden rule of blue flags and if you’re in a battle you’ve got to forget about your own battle and move over,” said Race Director Charlie Whiting.

“I’ve drilled that into them many many times and I think he completely forgot about it.

“He was so intent in his battle with Sirotkin… the light panels were flashing with his race number on them and Lewis was much much faster.

“It was probably one of the worst cases of ignoring blue flags I’ve seen for a long time.”

Grosjean is the only driver on the grid to have previously received a race ban in Formula 1, having been slapped with that sanction for his role in the start collision at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.

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Verstappen 'almost stalled' behind Safety Car because of engine gremlins

Max Verstappen was unhappy with the spec C Renault power unit in the back of his Red Bull RB14 at numerous points over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. Yet while it gave him some headaches in the race, the Dutchman still managed to bring his car home in second place and maintain Red Bull’s run of podiums in Singapore this decade.

Free Practice 3 had seen Verstappen consigned to the pits at various points with transmission and engine issues. Those managed to be resolved enough for Verstappen to produce what he called the lap of his career in qualifying, with the Dutchman ending up second on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton.

As the race got underway, Verstappen initially lost out to Sebastian Vettel, giving up P2 to the Ferrari on lap one after getting out-dragged down the Raffles Boulevard that leads to Marina Bay’s Turn 7, before the Safety Car was deployed for the crash between the Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez.

When the track went green again on lap five, Red Bull put their thinking caps on, managing to make the overcut on Vettel work in the pit stops and allowing Verstappen to re-take second, which he was then able to hold onto until the chequered flag. That might not have been the case had the Safety Car stayed out a lap longer than it did, however…

“I was very happy the Safety Car was gone because I was almost stalling on the track,” Verstappen revealed, having been heard complaining on the radio of false neutrals while lapping behind the Safety Car. “Even in my pit stop it was not great.”

Verstappen’s result continued Red Bull’s impressive run of form in Singapore, with the last time the team were off the podium here back in 2009. But did he feel pleased to claim second – or feel he had missed out on a chance for victory?

“No, you can't pass, it's impossible,” said Verstappen flatly when the question was put to him. “On the first stint when we were all going quite slow, even if you wanted to push a bit more, you can’t get close so you were just following in a train.

"You just have to do your own race, try and look after your tyres and that's what we did. That's why we could do the overcut, which of course was great. Once I was in second again, I just tried to follow Lewis to the end and bring it home.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was quick to praise Verstappen's efforts, while offering up an assessment of team mate Daniel Ricciardo’s race, after the Australian finished a distant sixth – his first Singapore Grand Prix as a Red Bull driver where he hasn’t made the podium.

“Max has driven the wheels off that car all weekend here,” said Horner. “Daniel had pace in the race but we couldn’t make the overcut work. Then obviously he had the pace in the car at the end but couldn’t get close enough to do an overtake, which seemed a bit of a theme throughout.”

Red Bull now look ahead to the final part of the season where there’ll be limited chances for them to compete for victory. But Verstappen is targeting at least one strong result before his season's done...

“Looking forward now, I don't know which track will come up as maybe good again,” said Verstappen. “Maybe Mexico a little bit, but we lose a lot on the straights so I'm not expecting it to be like last year [when Verstappen won] but we never know. You always have to be positive I guess and try to be there if something happens.”

[Baccy]

I'd say that it's pretty much over for Vettel now... I hope I'm wrong but 40 points is almost insurmountable at this point.

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2 hours ago, Baccy said:

I'd say that it's pretty much over for Vettel now... I hope I'm wrong but 40 points is almost insurmountable at this point.

You are correct - But still not impossible  

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VETTEL TITLE HOPES FADE FURTHER AS SOCHI BECKONS

Sebastian Vettel arrived in Singapore seeking a spark to reignite his Formula 1 title challenge but the German will leave for the next round in Russian further adrift of championship leader Lewis Hamilton after another disappointing race in a season littered with low points for Ferrari.

Poor tactical driving, strategic errors and the first-lap spin at Monza last time out left the Ferrari driver 30 points behind Hamilton with seven rounds remaining, and Singapore was seen as pivotal in helping arrest Vettel’s mid-season decline.

Ferrari were heavy favourites to win around the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit this weekend, yet once Hamilton had coaxed his Mercedes to a stunning pole position, Vettel was firmly on the back foot as his title rival eased to victory.

Vettel ended up third behind Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, losing another 10 points to the Briton with the prospect of a Mercedes-friendly circuit in Sochi next up on the calendar likely to further dampen his mood.

“Lewis said he didn’t expect to come here and gain 10 points and we probably didn’t expect to lose 10,” Vettel told reporters after he finished almost 40 seconds behind the Briton. “I never believed we had the fastest car by a big margin as people said — I know we have a good car.

“The speed is there and today, if anything, we were a little bit slower. But it’s difficult to draw conclusions as I had a very different race. I don’t think we have any tracks to fear that are coming, so no need to be afraid of what’s coming,” he added, before turning his attention to the final six rounds of the season starting with the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi in a fortnight.

Starting third on the grid, Vettel did get past Verstappen on the opening lap but after he was held up by Force India’s Sergio Perez following his pit stop, the Dutchman retook second place after his own change of tyres.

“I will always defend the team. The decisions we took in the race, to try and be aggressive, were to try and win the race and when it works it’s great,” he added of Ferrari’s ploy of calling him in for an early stop.

“But overall we had a very strong package, both (team mate) Kimi (Raikkonen) and myself looked very competitive throughout practice, but in the end the race result we finished third and fifth. Like yesterday, not where the speed of our car belongs.

“That’s what I mean when I said we didn’t get everything out of ourselves. It was pretty obvious what we tried to do and it didn’t work.”

Ferrari had hoped the early stop and change to the quick ultrasoft tyres would give Vettel an advantage over Hamilton and Verstappen but the scheme backfired once the Red Bull driver emerged from his pit stop ahead of the German.

“The strategy was to get ahead of Lewis, which didn’t work, and it was a pity that we lost the second place. Then the main focus was to maintain the third position,” Vettel said.

“We tried to get to first position and get ahead, but Lewis was too quick. Once you are ahead you can control the pace around here, but we never got ahead.”

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VERSTAPPEN: VERY HAPPY BUT CLEARLY WE’RE MISSING TOP SPEED

Max Verstappen delivered one of his more mature performances to claim second place at the Singapore Grand Prix, at one point running Lewis Hamilton close for the lead but lamented the lack of horsepower when he needed it on the night.

A day earlier the Dutchman delivered a masterful lap, in the same league as Hamilton’s extraordinary pole-winning lap, to claim second place on the grid for the race at Marina Bay Circuit, on a night Ferrari were expected to shine.

Fast forward to Sunday, after losing second place to Sebastian Vettel early on in the race Verstappen stalked the German and when Ferrari pitted their man early the Dutchman went into ‘full gas’ mode,  together with smart thinking from the Red Bull pitwall he delivered the overcut which netted second place back, where #33 remained unchallenged until the end.

After the race, Verstappen beamed to reporters, “It was not bad. The car was just very good, but we already know that. It’s a shame regarding the first lap; you can clearly see we are missing top speed. If we had come out on track behind of Vettel, we would have finished third.”

“From there on the team had a great strategy so we could get back into second. Basically, we drove our own race and tried to follow Lewis a bit. At the end we knew second was going to be the result, so we just had to bring the car home.”

It was not all plain sailing for Verstappen who was plagued with niggles all weekend, “I didn’t have a perfect getaway after my pit stop, but also behind the safety car the car had some issues and even some false neutrals. The car is then not able to find a gear, so I almost stalled.”

“I needed to shift very quickly in order to get back into a gear. During the race, shifting down was also very difficult. We had a lot of problems but, all in all, I am very happy with second place.”

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ARRIVABENE: TODAY’S WINNER DESERVED THE VICTORY

Ferrari chief Maurizio Arrivabene was humble in defeat as he declared that Lewis Hamilton deserved to win the Singapore Grand Prix after his team’s decision to go aggressive backfired.

Vettel was first of the three to pit, doing so from second place after getting by Max Verstappen earlier in the race.

The early stop left him vulnerable to the undercut, a fact that did not escape Red Bull who got their man to get a move on out there in clear air.

By the time Verstappen emerged from his pitstop some laps later he had done enough to take second place back from Vettel, and that’s how it remained until the end of the race.

After the race, Arrivabene made no excuses and conceded the better man won on the night.

He reported after the race at Marina Bay Circuit, “Today’s winner deserved the victory. After Sebastian overtook Verstappen, we went for an aggressive strategy, trying for the undercut on the Ultrasoft tyres.”

“Unfortunately, during the one lap that would prove to be crucial, we found ourselves behind another car and so we were unable to run at a fast enough pace. Despite today’s result, not all is lost.”

“Now, calmly and with determination, we will tackle the remaining six races, fighting all the way to the end,” added the Italian team chief with his team now trailing Mercedes by 25-points, while Vettel has dropped to 40-points behind Hamilton in the standings.

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F1 Paddock Pass: Post-race At The 2018 Singapore Grand Prix

 

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NEWEY: STUPID MISTAKES IN HEAT OF BATTLE VETTEL’S WEAKNESS

Adrian Newey believes that Sebastian Vettel’s major weakness is his vulnerability under pressure which may cost him the title this season, nevertheless the Red Bull design guru likens the German’s attention to detail to that of Formula 1 great Ayrton Senna.

In an interview with Bild am Sonntag, Newey said, “First I have to admit: Sebastian is a friend of mine. We get along very well. He works incredibly hard, sometimes too hard. Hardly anyone is more self-critical than he is.”

“If he has a weakness, it is that sometimes he makes stupid mistakes in the heat of the moment. When he leads, he is almost unbeatable, but in direct battles, he sometimes lacks.”

“In sports and also in life, there are people who deal with pressure differently. For drivers, this can be significantly difficult. In the car, he is not only responsible for himself, but has the entire team on his shoulders,” added Newey clearly referencing the pressure that comes with racing for Ferrari.

Newey, who penned the four F1 championship-winning Red Bull cars that powered Vettel to his four titles,  continued, “Some drivers don’t care, like the Finns Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen.”

“But then there are also drivers who are in contention for the championship and they feel the pressure, it weighs on them. The harder a driver works the more he feels the pressure, Sebastian belongs to this group.”

While Vettel and Ferrari have stumbled title rival Lewis Hamilton is on the bubble, enjoying the best form of his career, revelling in the pressure and using it to fire him up in the final phase of this championship.

Asked if handling pressure was now Hamilton’s strength, Newey replied, “Yes, it seems to be so. When he was younger, he also made mistakes. Now he has apparently found a way to better handle the pressure.”

For Vettel to be champion, Newey predicted, “If it’s going to happen, he needs at least one DNF from Lewis. Otherwise it will be damn hard…”

In his book ‘How To Build A Car’, Newey wrote about Senna’s fascination with every bit of the car and even crouched down to study the underside of the Williams when he visited the factory.

When asked if any other driver showed such interest in technical details, Newey said, “As far as interest in the car’s design and aerodynamics, only Sebastian can match him. For Ayrton and Sebastian, it was about their curiosity to understand all things about their car.”

With regards to his own future, Newey admitted, “If you had asked me ten years ago, I would have told you: Five more years. If you had asked me five years ago, I would probably have said the same thing. But I’m not ready to quit yet.”

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ALLISON: LEWIS TURNS INTO A MACHINE AT THIS TIME OF YEAR

Lewis Hamilton is arguably at the height of his prowess as he steps closer to a fifth Formula 1 world title, his Singapore Grand Prix weekend was of the highest order starting with a magical pole position winning lap and then a well-controlled if not dominant victory on Sunday.

His team, like his fans, are clearly in awe of their star driver who without doubt made the difference at Marina Bay Circuit, Mercedes technical chief James Allison made no bones about it when he said after the race, “Lewis got the job done, but we’ve given him the car to do that, and that’s a huge source of pride for us.”

And added, “Lewis turns into a machine at this time of year, and he lifts his performance to a level that’s superb to watch.”

With regards to the race, Allison said, “It was a very nervous race for us. All the way through, a safety car could have snatched a well-earned lead from us at any point.”

“There’s been a slow improvement of our performance in that regard. In the last sector at Budapest, we were strong. Last year, we were dreadful in that sector. We’ve been chipping away at it over the past 12 months.”

Hamilton now heads to the Russian Grand Prix, one of six rounds remaining, with a 40-points lead over Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, while Mercedes lead the constructors’ championship by 25 points over the reds.

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Stoffel Vandoorne upbeat over race gains but points drought rumbles on

Stoffel Vandoorne expressed optimism over his progress at the Singapore Grand Prix, though left empty-handed for the tenth round in succession.

Vandoorne dropped out in Q1 after a “messy” final lap in which he clipped the wall four times, consigning him to starting 18th, ahead of only the Williams drivers.

Vandoorne made gains in the race to classify 12th but it meant the outgoing McLaren driver again failed to score a point, having been unable to add to his tally since Azerbaijan.

“I think it was a decent race considering not a lot of action happened during the race and there were no Safety Cars after the start,” said Vandoorne.

“There was just that one incident on the first lap, but we couldn’t really benefit from that.

“We were quick and actually had good pace when it mattered in that first stint, especially when the pit window opened.

“We decided to go long on the first stint, and that’s how we recovered a few places.

“The tyres didn’t feel so great by the time we pitted, but we more or less had the pace to maintain that same rhythm. The others were getting blue flags so they were losing a lot of time, and that’s what mattered.

“It’s always been known that we’re better on a Sunday than a Saturday, but on street circuits like Singapore it’s all about qualifying. It’s a shame not to score any points.”

McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso raced to seventh place, increasing his points total to 50, compared to the eight amassed by Vandoorne.

Vandoorne will be replaced by Lando Norris in 2019.

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Charles Leclerc lauds 'close to perfect' Singapore GP

Charles Leclerc believes Sauber executed a close-to-perfect Singapore Grand Prix as he returned to the points-paying positions for the first time since Austria.

Leclerc started from 13th on the grid and ran a long first on Ultrasoft tyres to gradually move up the order as those who made Q3 and started on Hypersofts pitted earlier.

Ferrari-bound Leclerc came out of the pits in ninth position and preserved the spot through to the chequered flag.

It marked Leclerc’s sixth top 10 finish of the campaign as he ended a run of five Grands Prix without a point – the longest of his nascent Formula 1 career.

“What a race – it was quite close to being perfect,” he said.

“We had strong lap times, and the balance of the car felt good from the beginning to the end.

“We made a great recovery this weekend, after having a weaker race pace on Friday.

“With our strategy, we were able to fight our way to the front of the midfield and finish in the points again.

“Achieving this after the past few weekends feels good and shows our potential.”

Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson rose three places from his grid position but missed out on a point after classifying in 11th place.

“The pace was good and there were no mistakes made,” said Ericsson.

“Despite that, it is a bit frustrating to have finished in P11, so close to the points.

“We gave a strong performance, but could not fight for P10 anymore after coming back out onto the track behind the leading cars following our pitstop.”

Sauber retained ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship, its tally now up to 21 points.

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Renault gaps Haas in P4 fight but drivers left underwhelmed

Renault opened its advantage over nearest rival Haas to 15 points in the battle for fourth place in the wake of both Carlos Sainz Jr. and Nico Hulkenberg classifying in the top 10 in Singapore.

Renault held a commanding advantage in the scrap for fourth in the standings mid-season but Haas caught its rival in recent weeks and drew level courtesy of Romain Grosjean’s sixth in Italy.

But Renault pulled 10 points clear when Grosjean was excluded for a technical irregularity, and the manufacturer added another five to its advantage courtesy of eighth for Sainz Jr. and 10th for Hulkenberg in Singapore.

It marked the first time both Sainz Jr. and Hulkenberg scored points since the French Grand Prix, but the pair felt more was within reach.

“We had an advantage with tyre strategy starting in 12th and we made a good start to boost our possibility of getting into the top 10,” said Sainz Jr.

“Eighth isn’t bad, but I would have preferred to finish higher up the order.”

Hulkenberg felt that having to stop early to discard the Hypersofts on which he started, having made Q3, compromised his prospects.

“Well we stopped early, trying to undercut, we had that plan, maybe that was a bit ambitious, a bit early, easy to say in hindsight,” he said.

“I wasn’t in traffic but I caught up to Checo [Perez], who was stuck behind Sergey [Sirotkin], he was pretty slow, I obviously profited when they collided but yeah not the greatest race.

“It was always going to be difficult with Hypersofts and unfortunately that came true.

“I would have liked to take four or six [points], could have been possible from car pace, but didn’t have a great start, straight away lost two positions, so straightaway was on the backfoot, costly.”

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Daniel Ricciardo & Max Verstappen: Smash 'N' Crab Challenge in Singapore

And last Seasons Durina Fruit Challenge if anyone remembers 

 

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Perez apologised but it's not over, says Ocon

Esteban Ocon says that his Force India teammate Sergio Perez apologised after their costly first lap clash in Singapore.
But the Frenchman made it clear that what he described as a "terrible situation" won't be quickly forgotten.

Ocon was pushed into the wall on the exit of Turn 3 when he attempted to go round the outside of Perez, and the Mexican moved over on him.

The pair talked about the incident when Perez, who finished out of the points, returned to the Force India camp after the race.

"He apologised to me, in the room he said he apologised," Ocon told Motorsport.com. "But it's not because of that that everything's gone.

"The only thing I look at at the moment is that we come home with no points on a weekend where we should have been both in the points, getting strong results.

"We had the pace for it. And yeah, it's a terrible situation to be where we are now.

"That's all I can say, there's nothing else to comment about. No, it's not the same situation as last year, we've turned the page from there. And that's it really."

Regarding team boss Otmar Szafnauer's suggestion that the pair won't be allowed to race, he said: "I don't know what the team is going to decide.

"Obviously no one is happy with this situation – that's obvious. We'll see."

Perez was adamant that he didn't know that it was Ocon's car that he touched on the first lap.

"It was very unfortunate," he said. "As I'm picking up the power in Turn 3 I just get a contact from another car, on my front tyre. I did not even realise at the time that it was Esteban.

"As I got it through the radio I was quite sorry for the team, because I thought we were on to a great day today, with a lot of points."

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"Bogey circuit" win among Mercedes' greatest - Wolff

Toto Wolff has described the Singapore Grand Prix as one of his Mercedes Formula 1 team's “greatest victories,” at a venue where it has sometimes struggled in recent years.
The Marina Bay street circuit was expected to favour rivals Ferrari and Red Bull more than Mercedes, but this didn't stop Lewis Hamilton from taking pole and converting it into a convincing win.

Mercedes boss Wolff stressed that a bad weekend in Spa had motivated the team to pull out all the stops as it sought to get back to winning form.

“It feels like one of the greatest victories, because it was really our bogey circuit in the past,” said Wolff. “And we were so motivated to do well here.

"And we showed that we can also perform in Singapore, and coming here and finishing by winning the race, and with a very solid team result, is really a great achievement for everybody in the team.

“I think you need to make your own destiny a little bit. And we’ve worked so hard after Spa, to understand the car, and we knew against many voices that we could perform well in Singapore.

"And we came here, and qualifying was amazing, the lap was really stardust, and then he [Hamilton] controlled it throughout the whole race.”

Wolff said there was no specific effort focussed on improving Mercedes' performance at the Singapore circuit.

“It was just part of the ongoing development, to really try to understand the tyres and the car better, and make it more compact with it all together.

"There’s never one silver bullet, it’s tiny little steps that are important to make the car perform like it did.

“There’s marginal gains that will determine the outcome of this championship, because on performance levels we are very close to each other.

"So we have to keep the foot on the throttle and try to avoid mistakes and continue to develop the car.”

Wolff insisted Hamilton's current 40-point advantage over Vettel meant little, as there remains "absolutely" enough time in the season still for the Ferrari man to turn it around.

“Forty points advantage or zero, makes no difference for us. You can see, like in Austria, we had a double DNF, how quickly it goes, and you lose 25 points.

"And we just have to look weekend by weekend and try to perform at our best level, and it’s only won when it’s won.”

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FIA sees no need to change F1's blue flag rules

Formula 1 has no need to change its blue flag rules, says race director Charlie Whiting, despite complaints from drivers about the difficulties of passing backmarkers in the Singapore Grand Prix.
Dealing with lapped traffic proved to be one of the biggest challenges for the leaders on Sunday, with Lewis Hamilton losing time behind the battling Romain Grosjean and Sirotkin at one point.

Later on, Valtteri Bottas was left particularly frustrated that he could not get close enough to Nico Hulkenberg on fresh tyres to trigger the warning signals.

The FIA only puts out the blue flags when a driver is 1.2 seconds behind a car it wants to lap, and Bottas shouted over the radio that such a gap was too big for a track like Singapore.

But Whiting thinks the current time margin is right, and any move to increase it would just end up ruining the races of the slower cars.

Asked by Motorsport.com about the situation, he said: "This time last year it was one second, and we had discussions, and we opened it up to 1.2s.

"I don't think we should go any more than that, because then you get into a situation where a driver has to back off and lose a lot more time than he really should to let the other car through, if he's got to do it at his earliest opportunity.

"If we say, when he's 1.4 seconds or 1.6 seconds behind, you've got to move right over, back off, and lose a lot of time, we don't want that to happen because it's not fair."

Whiting said that Bottas was the only driver really struggling to get within the 1.2s margin, and says that it is the not the FIA's duty to overcome issues that faster cars may have with car handling or tyre management.

"I think it's reasonable to expect that a driver can get within 1.2 seconds," he said. "Everyone else did except Valtteri.

"I don't know why that was. Maybe his car wasn't exactly how he wanted it. I spoke to him earlier and he said he just couldn't make any headway. That's not our problem, without wishing to sound unkind.

"Everyone else was abiding by that and had to work to that, so we couldn't make an exception for him."

Despite Whiting not seeing the need for change, Bottas reckoned the matter would get discussed in the drivers' briefing at the Russian Grand Prix.

"At most of the circuits it's fine. But it is very difficult to get within 1.2s here," he said. "I'm sure at the next drivers' briefing or whatever we're going to speak about that.

"The more and more downforce with the current spec of cars, it's only going to get more difficult.

"Previously it was 1.0s, now it is 1.2s. With more downforce being added, it's going to be bigger. Hopefully next year it will be different."

[MIKA27]

"Hard to believe" Perez's Sirotkin hit was deliberate - Whiting

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting finds it "hard to believe" that Sergio Perez deliberately drove into Sergey Sirotkin during their intense battle in the Singapore Grand Prix.
Perez and Sirotkin came to blows at the Marina Bay circuit after the Mexican swerved left into his Williams rival, following mounting frustrations about being held up by the Russian.

The crash earned Perez a drive-through penalty for his actions, although some suggested that such an unnecessary clash warranted tougher action and even a black flag.

But Whiting did not think that what Perez did was so bad, as he is sceptical that a driver would be so stupid to deliberately crash at racing speed.

“I haven’t spoken to him, nor have the stewards as far as I’m aware,” said Whiting. “But it’s hard to believe a driver would intend to hit a [rival's] car.

“He’d been trying hard to get past Sirotkin, and he looked a little bit frustrated, and I just think he misjudged how far in front he was in front of him.

“You saw how closely they were racing all the way through [Turns] 14-15-16-17, and I think he just misjudged it.”

For several laps before the collision Perez complained on team radio about Sirotkin breaking the rules by weaving under braking – but this was something Whiting had not noticed.

“He [Perez] complained about this happening in Turn 7 and Turn 14, and we didn’t see anything that gave us any trouble. Then he complained again, and we looked again, and frankly he simply wasn’t close enough.

“Sergey was maybe just being circumspect going into Turn 14, but as they were approaching the corner, just moved slightly left. It wasn’t as if Sergio was getting really close, he was a good distance back.

“I just said to them he’s going to have to get a lot closer if we’re going to start looking exactly what he’s doing under braking, because it really wasn’t an issue for us.”

Baku memories

Perez’s swerve towards Sirotkin reminded some of what Sebastian Vettel did to Lewis Hamilton behind the safety car in Baku in 2017.

But Whiting thinks the incidents were different, because Vettel’s actions took place at much slower speed.

“The safety car was out in Baku,” added Whiting. “You can say it was, I wouldn’t say safer, but less likely to cause an accident than when at racing speeds. 

"But that’s a decision that the stewards took, and presumably they took that into account.”

[Baccy]

I am getting a bit tired of the media claiming that Ferrari have a "power edge" cause I'm not seeing it. I think the 2 squads are pretty evenly matched this year. Certain tracks happen to suit Mercedes and certain tracks happen to suit Ferrari. Currently Hamilton and his team are simply outperforming Ferrari via strategem and mental preparation.

[Lotusguy]

I am getting a bit tired of the media claiming that Ferrari have a "power edge" cause I'm not seeing it. I think the 2 squads are pretty evenly matched this year. Certain tracks happen to suit Mercedes and certain tracks happen to suit Ferrari. Currently Hamilton and his Silver Arrows teams are simply outperforming Ferrari via strategem and mental preparation.

I agree with you. They are about the same - but Ferrari and Vettel have made more mistakes lately.

[MIKA27]

ROBERTSON: KIMI LOVES DRIVING

Many believed if Kimi Raikkonen did not stay with Ferrari beyond this season he would quit the sport, but not so as a flurry of activity around the Italian Grand Prix resulted in the veteran Finn swapping seats with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc.

The surprise deal was announced ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend and means that Raikkonen will be with us until the end of 2020.

The reason for this, according to his longtime manager Steve Robertson, is simple: “Kimi loves driving. He could have stopped, but he just loves driving at the top in Formula 1.”

“Personally I knew that he would keep driving. I believed that if he did not stay at Ferrari, he would like to look at another option. And there are not many alternatives.”

“He has been with F1’s iconic team for eight years, which is incredible. Now he may decide to end his career at the team where he started it.”

With regards to the deal that stunned the F1 paddock, Robertson revealed, “Kimi met with them first and then handed it to me. They said they were interested, and Kimi said he was interested. It was the same as has been the case throughout his career.”

[MIKA27]

ELKANN: AT FERRARI WE WANT TO WIN WITH STYLE

Ferrari chairman John Elkann (pictured top right) wants to lead Formula 1’s most famous team, which he inherited from his grandfather Gianni Agnelli, in the manner in which Enzo Ferrari would have wanted, namely winning with style.

Speaking during the Capital Markets Day at Maranello, Elkann said, “Enzo Ferrari personally competed in various championships, even winning races during the early years of the 20th century.”

“In his extraordinary life, one thing was fundamental: winning, and winning with style, and we are determined that this will continue in the future.”

Elkann, the first member of the Agnelli family to become president of Ferrari, added, “My family has the privilege of contributing to Ferrari’s history of 50 of its 70 and more years of history. When, on 18 June 1969, Enzo Ferrari met my grandfather in Turin to seal this unique partnership, a special relationship was created.”

“I was not born yet but over the following years I became aware of the profound importance of Ferrari for my family and my country, Italy. You will understand then that it is an honor for me to speak here today and have Piero Ferrari at my side.”

Ferrari have one of the best cars, if not the best, on the grid this season but somehow they have managed to trip up to the point that Vettel now trails Lewis Hamilton in the championship standings by 40 points with six rounds remaining.

[MIKA27]

RICCIARDO: RENAULT NEEDS 12 MONTHS TO BE CONTENDER

Daniel Ricciardo had a life-altering decision to make before the summer break, continue with Red Bull for two or three years or take a gamble with a big buck offer from Renault – history will show that he chose the latter.

The big smiling Australian is not heading to Renault, where he will team up alongside Nico Hulkenberg, with great expectations for next year but expects a Shoey or two in 2020.

Speaking to Sky F1, Ricciardo opened up on his goals for his new adventure, “I think it’s realistic to think a podium ‘Shoey’ could come in 2020. I don’t want to count off a podium next year but I think realistically it has to come under some circumstances if it’s a bit of a crazy race like Baku 2016 or something.”

“I think it’s going to take another 12 months to be a podium contender but that’s the trajectory they’re on. I really see it hard at the moment for anyone to fight for a title other than Ferrari and Mercedes in the next 12 months.”

“Obviously Red Bull are an unknown now with Honda, but still the odds are with Ferrari and Mercedes,” predicted the Red Bull driver.

With regards to his first season with the French team, Ricciardo said, “I kind of feel like 2019 is going to be a building year, regardless of where I was going to be, so we’ll try and do what we can next year but attack in 2020.”