Feature
What the teams said – Qualifying in Singapore
Special Contributor
Becky HartShare
McLaren
Norris was fastest in FP2, fastest in FP3 and heavy favourite for pole. He had such a margin to the rest of the field, he didn’t even need to push flat-out and take risks on his final run in Q3, and wound up taking pole by two tenths of a second. His team mate took longer to get up to speed though, and couldn’t nail his final run in Q3. Piastri wound up fifth, on a day where more was possible – and that leaves Norris without a rear gunner unless Piastri makes an electric start tomorrow.
Lando Norris, 1st, 1:29.525
"It was tough in Qualifying today, I was finding it difficult to go quicker and it put me under a little bit of pressure, especially with just one lap to get it right. The car felt good though, it’s been strong all weekend and when you have that, you're confident, you can go out and push to get the lap time you need. So, I did the job I had to do to thank the team for their hard work and I’m excited to see what we can do tomorrow."
Oscar Piastri, 5th, 1:29.953
"A pretty average end to Qualifying, unfortunately. The lap was looking good until the last sector, and then I got a bit eager on the throttle and that was pretty much the end of the lap. It’s a shame, because the car was competitive. A frustrating way to end Qualifying, but we’ll put the work in tonight and aim to move forward in tomorrow’s race."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
"A strong performance for the team overall in this Qualifying session, which confirms that the car can be competitive across many different types of circuit layouts. That’s important – not just for this event but overall, in this final quarter of the season. Lando has been putting in very strong laps all weekend and he’s taken the Pole Position he thoroughly deserved. On Oscar’s side, his lap in Q2 was very promising – and would have been enough for the front row of the grid – but the lap time went away from us in Q3. We’ll review that, but primarily our focus now is on preparation for the race tomorrow. The car is quick, and we should put ourselves in position to achieve an important result at the Singapore Grand Prix."
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Red Bull
Red Bull managed to turn around their fortunes overnight, at least on one side of the garage. Verstappen looked back in the mix in FP3 and so it proved, the Dutchman handling a tricky car with ease despite a couple of heart-in-mouth slides in Q1. He made Q3 and grabbed a spot on the front row in a serious turnaround – having started on third and fourth row at the last two events. Perez couldn’t keep his Q3 run going though, dropping out in Q2 for the first time since his Q1 exit in Hungary – the Mexican struggling with his rear tyres, and sounding confused as to where his pace went.
Max Verstappen, 2nd, 1:29.728
“I am very happy with second today and it is great to start the race on the front row tomorrow. Huge credit goes to the Team for all of their hard work; they came up with some great solutions and made a lot of changes to the car overnight and it made a huge difference. The car was a lot nicer to drive, we could attack the corners a bit more and we really maximised our performance today. I had a better feeling with the car and kept on improving it as yesterday was very tough. On paper, this is not a good track on the calendar for us, and we do have our limitations on the pace, so this gives us a lot of hope in the coming races that we can do well. To come out and finish where we did today is an amazing result for qualifying."
Sergio Perez, 13th, 1:30.579
“It was a very tricky session, Q1 was very nice, the progression that we had with the tyres and the car, and everything was going in the right direction. The track was ramping up but Q2 all of a sudden it became quite difficult to nail the lap, I only found a tenth and we were struggling, mainly with the tyres and something was going on with the brakes for me. If anything, we went slower, we were lacking a lot of grip through the lap and not getting it in the right window. How we are using the tyres has been quite a difficult thing this weekend up to now, so we have plenty of understanding to do. We have come from quite a strong weekend in Baku and then we seem to struggle quite a lot here. Unfortunately, we are out in Q2, it hasn’t been a straightforward weekend, I think we lost some potential from yesterday, so we have plenty of stuff to analyse. Overtaking around here is very tricky, we have a long night ahead of us tomorrow."
Christian Horner, Team Principal
"To be on the front row is a great recovery after where we were yesterday. Max has done a great job today, along with the whole team of mechanics and engineers both at track and back in Milton Keynes, and I think it shows that we’re going in the right direction. It wasn’t perfect, but Max really dug deep, and even the lap with the red flag would’ve been good enough for the front row so it’s positive to know that the pace is real. The most important thing is that we’re next to our closest rival on the front row when it counts. It was tough for Checo, Q1 was looking okay, and in Q2 he had a moment in the last chicane and with how close the margins are here it just wasn’t enough unfortunately for Q3. Congrats to Lando on pole, he’s been very strong this weekend so far, but anything can happen tomorrow and hopefully we have a good race on our hands."
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Mercedes
Like Red Bull, Mercedes managed a miraculous turnaround after a difficult Friday. Hamilton said Q3 wouldn’t be possible yesterday, and yet he went on to grab third on the grid – his best starting slot since Silverstone. Russell backed him up with fourth, putting Mercedes in a great place for the race. And given they were the fastest team on the hard compound tyre in race trim last weekend, and looked strong here in the Grand Prix last year, Mercedes could be one to watch tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton, 3rd, 1:29.841
"I’ve been working really hard to improve my qualifying performances and to get myself back up at the front on a Saturday. The car came alive today and we had one of our strongest Saturdays in a while. That was a great feeling. Having just one effort in Q3 after the red flag was tricky, and there was perhaps a little bit more left in the car, but overall, I am really grateful for what we achieved today.
"I also want to say a big thank you to everyone in the garage. We’ve been moving around on balance all weekend and they’ve put in a big shift to get the car into a good place. We are now starting from a solid place to fight for the podium tomorrow. We don’t know exactly where our race pace will be compared to others, but with the changes we made overnight, it felt like we had improved since Friday. We’ll be giving it everything on Sunday."
George Russell, 4th, 1:29.867
"If you had told us yesterday that we would qualify on the second row of the grid, we would have absolutely taken that. With the improvements we made overnight though, and how the car felt in FP3, I would have reconsidered. I was feeling super confident in the car, and everything was coming easily. That feeling deserted us in Q1 though and I would have bitten your hand off for P4. We were suffering from a lack of grip and were only just able to progress through each segment to Q3. I was able to put in a decent lap though once we were there and overall, we can’t be disappointed with where we have ended the day.
"We can ultimately see today as a good recovery. Yesterday, we were on course to be mired in the midfield and yet here we are with a second-row lock-out. We would love to be starting further forward but the team has done a great job to get us back on track so a big thank you to them. Hopefully we can go on the attack tomorrow and fight for the podium."
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"After a difficult Friday, we would have absolutely accepted, and been happy with, locking out the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s race. With the progress we made with the car overnight though, and subsequent pace we showed in FP3, P3 and P4 feels a little underwhelming. With all that said, it is not a bad place to be starting the race from.
"The fluctuations in performance across Friday and Saturday that has affected many teams has been strange. Ferrari dropped back a little today whilst Max (Verstappen) took a step forward, along with ourselves. I suspect we will see more of those fluctuations tomorrow, too. Hopefully the work we’ve done to improve the car from Friday will also translate into our race pace and we can have a competitive Sunday fighting for the podium."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"After a challenging Friday, it is satisfying to have both cars on the second row after a qualifying session where it would have been easy to finish much further down the order. Our teams back in Brackley and Brixworth did a great job overnight to provide direction for FP3, and as soon as we hit the track, it was clear that both cars were in a much happier place.
"Qualifying here is always frantic – with rapidly improving track grip in the early stages and the potential jeopardy of yellow or red flags. We had managed to keep two sets of new Soft tyres for Q3, but Sainz’s accident and the subsequent red flag meant that we only had one shot at it in the final stages. Both Lewis and George did their quickest laps of the weekend to claim the second row and set us up strongly for tomorrow. It’s always a demanding race here in Singapore and managing the rear tyres will be key tomorrow evening. Safety Cars can offer opportunities to offset or do something different, as we saw last year, and we will be aiming to race for the podium and solid points after some challenging Grands Prix since the summer break."
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Ferrari
Ferrari were right up there battling with McLaren on Friday, but Saturday did not go their way. Leclerc was complaining in FP3 about his tyre preparation, but that initially seemed to have improved for qualifying. But then came disaster – first Sainz crashed at the start of Q3, catching a bump on the track with cooler than expected tyres, resulting in a spin into the barriers. That left everyone just one lap to get a time on the board, and pushing hard, Leclerc ran just wide on his flying effort to see his time deleted for track limits. A race of damage limitation awaits Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc, 9th, No time set in Q3
"It was a disappointing qualifying for us. My front tyres were too cold when exiting the garage for Q3, so I had to push a lot more than usual on the out-lap to try and bring them up to the right temperature, but it was impossible. It’s a shame because this puts us on the back foot for the race, so we have to keep our expectations realistic, as to what might be possible."
Carlos Sainz, 10th, No time set in Q3
"A very strange qualifying session that obviously didn’t end well for us. Right before my push lap in Q3 I had to let a McLaren by, moving on to the dirty line, and then I quickly came back to push in the last corner. I misjudged the temperature of the tyres and the grip and lost the rear, hitting the wall. It’s a costly mistake from my side and I’m sorry for the team.
"The race is tomorrow and, even though it is going to be very difficult, Singapore is always a long race with opportunities along the way. We will try everything to gain some positions and bring home good points."
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
"A tough Saturday, maybe the most frustrating of the season so far. After his crash, Carlos is okay, even if this was not what he was expecting after his performance here last year. We had a strong pace all weekend so to come out of qualifying with no times on the board is tough especially as our Q2 time suggested we could get on the front row. With only time for one lap in Q3, Charles was naturally right on the limit and went over the line by a couple of centimetres.
"So now we have to focus on tomorrow, when we will be trying to bring home the best result we can from where we are on the grid. Maybe we will have to be more aggressive than usual with our strategy choices, but Singapore is not the easiest track for overtaking."
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Haas
Hulkenberg delivered a qualifying masterclass to make it all the way into Q3, and once there, grab a place on the third row of the grid. His effort still would have beaten Leclerc’s time had the Ferrari man not had his time deleted, showing what a good lap it was. Magnussen was P14 on his return to qualifying, so might have to get his elbows out at the start tomorrow.
Nico Hulkenberg, 6th, 1:30.115
“I’m very happy, that was a solid qualifying from the team. They were clean laps and I had a good feeling and confidence in the car, which is crucial around here and on street circuits in general, and something I was missing a bit last week. I’m happy, we didn’t leave much out there and we maximised the session. I think we were the fifth fastest team out there today. We have a big job ahead tomorrow and we need to close it out; we need to stay focused and bring it home.”
Kevin Magnussen, 14th, 1:30.653
“It was very marginal even though P14 doesn’t look great. There’s so little in it that we could’ve been in Q3, so we were just on the wrong end of those margins. The car is in a good place and Nico had amazing pace in quali, so I have faith we can move forward tomorrow, and we can have a good day. In the first few runs, I felt more competitive but other people picked up more pace than I did, and I probably reached my maximum with the car.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“What can I say – P6 for qualifying in Singapore is an unbelievable team effort. It’s an amazing result and I’m so happy for everyone. Particularly how we started this weekend, FP1 was difficult and neither driver was happy with the car. I’m really proud of the engineering team and everyone in the garage for working together and staying calm, they followed the evolution of the track and improved the car. Both Nico and Kevin adapted to the new conditions and today in qualifying, the operational delivery of the session throughout Q1, Q2, and Q3 was mega. It’s a great starting point and tomorrow we’ll try to finish the job by scoring points.”
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Aston Martin
The top 10 looked unlikely for Aston Martin, with RB and Williams looking very strong after practice. But when it mattered, Alonso put in a great lap to grab a place in Q3 and grabbed seventh to put himself in a great position to score points for the second straight race. Stroll couldn’t quite extract the same pace from his AMR24, exiting qualifying at the first time of asking.
Fernando Alonso, 7th, 1:30.214
"I am very happy with seventh position and the performance tonight in Qualifying. We've struggled with the weaknesses of the car here and we've put in a lot of hard work to try and improve things. Heading into Qualifying we were a bit pessimistic as our pace didn't look too promising in FP3. We managed to put the laps together though and thanks to a few cars not completing their laps in Q3 we ended up a bit higher than what our true pace is. We'll take it but we know that the points are scored tomorrow, so we need to complete the job and score some good points."
Lance Stroll, 17th, 1:31.094
"It's been a tricky weekend in Singapore so far. We've been struggling with balance and grip but just haven't managed to get on top of it. The field is so tight, so you need a car that you have the confidence to push in. It's tough to pass around here, but we'll see what we can do in the race tomorrow and hope for some opportunities."
Mike Krack, Team Principal
"A spectacular Qualifying session under the lights in Singapore. Lance missed out on getting through to Q2 by just a tenth of a second. With the majority of the track resurfaced and overnight rain it has been tricky to get the car into the optimal operating window with the right balance.
"The margins are so fine and the risk of making a punishing mistake are high. As we saw in Baku, Fernando was able to outperform the pace of the race car with an impressive lap to get through to Q3 by just two hundredths. In Q3 we benefitted from the Ferraris not setting lap times and beat [Yuki] Tsunoda to P7. A promising place to start tomorrow on what will be a very physically demanding race for all the drivers in these hot and humid conditions."
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RB
Ricciardo was the surprise faller in Q1, exiting in 16th place. He left it all out there on the final run, coming close to the barriers but a couple of scruffy corners cost him dear. RB did deliver on their Friday promise though thanks to Tsunoda, who made it all the way to Q3 for the first time since Hungary. Starting eighth, he will be targeting some points, especially given championship rivals Haas also have a car in the top 10.
Daniel Ricciardo, 16th, 1:31.085
"Today wasn't good. We really struggled on the softs, every set we used today, we weren't competitive. Our pace was good yesterday, which is why we didn't change much on the car overnight. In FP3, we performed well on the medium. However, it was a lot harder for us to get the most out of the soft tyre, and we didn't find a solution in qualifying. There was only a tenth between us and Q2, but we expected more based on yesterday's practice."
Yuki Tsunoda, 8th, 1:30.354
"It's been a while since we were in Q3, and today finally we made it! We were waiting for this moment, so well done and thanks to the Team. Obviously, as a driver, you're always aiming for a perfect qualifying, and unfortunately, the last run was a bit messy. We were tight on time during the warm-up lap, so we had to rush, which compromised our last push lap a bit. Initially, I was a bit frustrated when I crossed the finish line, but considering our performance in the last few races, this is a big achievement for us. It won't be easy tomorrow, we'll try to catch the Haas in front of us but at the same time, we'll have to look at some fast cars behind us. We'll do as much as we can to try and score points."
Guillaume Dezoteux, Head of Vehicle Performance
"Back to Q3! After a solid Friday, the engineering group was focused on making small changes to optimize the car balance and extract the best out of the Soft tyres. The overall performance of the team in qualifying session has been strong confirming the competitiveness of our car in this kind of track. Yuki progressed to Q2 and then Q3 by putting solid lap times together and he qualified P8, which is a good starting position for tomorrow's race. For Daniel, the pace was very similar but finding the limit on braking in a couple of places has been more difficult and cost him Q2 by one tenth. We need to understand better this limitation as every detail counts in this tight field. Tonight, we will review the various options for the race strategy and the tyre usage tomorrow, hoping for points to defend our position in the Constructors' championship."
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Williams
Williams looked strong throughout practice, leaving both drivers disappointed that they couldn’t quite make Q3. Albon was frustrated with his tyres, and he wasn’t alone, with plenty of drivers struggling with tyre warm up in the nighttime conditions. As for Colapinto, he initially apologised to the team – before they quickly told him he was just 0.007s behind his more experienced team mate, with the Argentine not having the latest upgrades on his car either.
Alex Albon, 11th, 1:30.474
"The car was definitely quicker than P11 today, so of course I’m disappointed. We’ve got a balance issue in the car this weekend and we’ve been trying to improve it, but we’ve not found anything to fix it, so when it’s not there, we’re quick but unfortunately when it is, we’re struggling and that’s what happened in Qualifying. We’re also dealing with rear overheating of the tyres quite early in the lap, making it difficult to predict, so it’s not ideal. Whilst it was tricky out there today, I’ll still be fighting in the battle for points tomorrow, so let’s see how we go."
Franco Colapinto, 12th, 1:30.481
"I’m a bit frustrated as I can easily look back on my lap and find time that would’ve got me into Q3, but it was still a good Qualifying session. We were hoping for a little bit more today and we were capable of doing that. Unfortunately, I made some little mistakes which cost me the chance to progress. There are things to review and improve on, but it was still a decent day. The car is in a good window, so we need to keep working towards the race tomorrow to try to get the best result possible."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director
"After a good FP3 for both drivers we were confident for Qualifying tonight. In Q1 both drivers produced good laps on their last attempt and proceeded solidly into Q2. Looking to the performances this morning in FP3, we knew it was going to be tight to get into Q3. Unfortunately, both Alex and Franco didn’t make it into Q3 by a few milliseconds, both complaining of not having the tyres in the right window from their first attempt. It’s something for us to investigate in the future but for now we will concentrate on the race tomorrow as we have both cars in a good position to fight for points."
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Alpine
Alpine always expected to struggle here, and once again they looked well off the pace of the top 10. Ocon at least stopped his run of being out-qualified by his team mate, getting the better of Gasly for the first time since the summer break. But while Ocon made it to Q2, he needed to use plenty of sets of tyres to do so and then couldn’t go any further.
Esteban Ocon, 15th, 1:30.769
"I was happier with the car in Qualifying, it felt better this evening and we took a step forward in terms of pace from Free Practice 3, particularly in Q1. The pace seemed to drop off a little in Q2 and we were not able to extract much more to be closer to Q3. A mixed result in the end. I’m glad we could improve a little bit, but we are still far away from where we want to be. We’ll debrief to understand what happened between Q1 and Q2 and will aim to bring the fight tomorrow to progress up the field."
Pierre Gasly, 18th, 1:31.312
"It’s a disappointing Qualifying performance where we have a lot of things to understand. I just felt like I had no grip and poor traction and the car really felt much worse than it did earlier in the day. We did not improve things and I basically matched my lap time between Free Practice 3 to Qualifying where it should be much quicker. It’s confusing at the moment, we are certainly scratching our heads and we will work hard together to figure out this deficit. It’s always a tough race physically here. We will just aim to be in the mix tomorrow, see what happens and push to the very end."
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Kick Sauber
Kick Sauber’s struggles continue, with the team locking out the final row on the grid. Bottas pipped his team mate again, Zhou now having not beaten the Finn over one lap since Silverstone. At a street track where overtaking is tricky at best, it might be a long evening for the Kick Sauber drivers, but they’ll be hoping for plenty of chaos in a bid to make their way forward towards the points.
Valtteri Bottas, 19th, 1:31.572
“As the results show, it’s been a tough qualifying session. We tried to extract every bit of performance we could this weekend so far but, ultimately, it just wasn’t enough. This track really exposed some of our weaknesses, particularly in single-lap pace. We’re hoping for a stronger showing tomorrow, but regardless, we’ll aim to optimise everything and push for the best possible result. We’ll keep fighting hard before the mini break, when we can regroup and focus on improving for the future.”
Zhou Guanyu, 20th, 1:32.054
“We were expecting to experience a tough qualifying session, and seeing how far we are from Q2 confirms that it was always going to be a challenge. Making the cut wasn’t realistic today, as we’ve been lacking overall performance; most surprising, though, was that it was very difficult to find a balance that would allow us to push fully, compared to what we experienced yesterday. We now focus on working together as a team and making improvements where we can. Our attention shifts fully to the race, where anything can happen, and we’ll give it our all. Hopefully we can be a bit more competitive in the race and mix it up with the rest of the pack, as we were able to do last week in Baku.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative
"We came to Singapore knowing that this circuit does not suit our car and even amplifies certain limitations we have in terms of balance. Unfortunately, today's qualifying session confirmed our prediction: already this morning, we saw that the car's balance was not really there, and it was difficult for both drivers to have a predictable car throughout the session. We struggled mainly with the rear of the car, both in terms of entry stability and traction, and during qualifying, we could only record another last-row finish. This means we need to fight in the race to take advantage of any opportunity. We cannot give up: it's just Saturday, and we have a full race ahead of us; today was a difficult day, but nothing is totally lost for tomorrow."
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Pirelli
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director
“It was a very interesting day, starting with the third free practice session. Despite heavy rain falling for a long time last night, the track did not lose grip and during the 60 minutes, it continued to improve. The situation was different during the qualifying hour, when track evolution was very low, which explains why the quickest time from FP3, set by Norris in 1’29”646, was beaten by him by only 125 thousandths of a second. One has to keep in mind that the air is very humid here in Singapore and there was no track activity between the two Formula 1 sessions, which could also have had an impact on track surface condition.
“Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, when a pit stop to change tyres costs around 28”, a one-stop is the obligatory choice. On paper, from an initial analysis, a Medium-Hard scenario is the quickest route, with a pit stop window between laps 21 and 27. The Soft has proved to be a viable option for the first stint, with an earlier stop between lap 14 and 19 to take on the Hard. Those starting between the midfield and the front of the grid could also consider starting on the Hard to go for the longest first stint possible, with an ideal pit stop window between laps 37 and 43.
“Having said all that, on this type of track, we have often seen, not least last year here, drivers and teams playing tactically with their race pace, especially on the first stint. Neutralisations and the weather are two other unknown factors that definitely have to be taken into consideration, but there is little one can do about those, apart from being ready to make the most of any opportunity that presents itself.”
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