What the teams said – Race day in Singapore

McLaren

Norris was unstoppable in Singapore, leading from start to finish and never looking likely to be troubled by the rest. The only thing that did cause him some issues was his own concentration, Norris hitting the wall twice in a couple of hairy moments. He won by over 20 seconds in another dominant victory, and Piastri made it two McLarens on the podium. He initially dropped to sixth after being run wide in the opening corner, but managed to pick off Hulkenberg and ran a very long first stint. With fresh tyres late on, he was able to grab the final podium spot and help McLaren extend their lead in the constructors’.

Lando Norris, 1st

“Another win! I’m so happy with today, it was an amazing performance from the team. The car was mega so I could push. We were fast throughout the whole race, and at the end, I could focus to see it out. It was still a very tough race with a few too many close calls. It was very easy to lock-up a tyre – which I did a couple of times, but I was pushing because I wanted to have the biggest lead possible. It's nice to have Oscar on the podium too. He drove well, and we got a lot of points, so a good way to thank the team for their hard work.”

Oscar Piastri, 3rd

“It was a good race, and a good recovery from Qualifying yesterday, so to get back to the podium is a great result. We had a really quick car underneath us and a good strategy to get past the two Mercedes. It was a bit close to George in Turn 1, but once I got into third place, I had a massive gap to try and close up, so I didn’t want to take many risks. The car’s been exceptional all weekend and got some great points for the team. Thanks to the team for their hard work. Time for a short break now, and we'll come back fighting in Austin."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“A fantastic evening here in Singapore with a dominant victory for Lando, and Oscar managing to recover a couple of positions and finishing in P3. Achieving back-to-back victories is another milestone for us. The car was strong all weekend, making us optimistic for the rest of the season. We extend our lead in the Constructors’ Championship, and Lando reduces the gap to Max in the race for the Drivers’ Championship.

“I would like to once again take this opportunity to thank everyone at McLaren and Mercedes HPP for the incredible job they’ve done to deliver such a fast car. I’d also like to thank our partners and our fans for being with us on this journey. We will take time to celebrate our achievements today before switching our focus tomorrow to the upcoming triple-header.”

Red Bull

Verstappen made a good enough start to keep the soft-shod Hamilton at bay and ran second from there. But he never had the pace to take the fight to Norris ahead, who was soon out of undercut range. It was a relatively quite race for the Dutchman, bar one moment where he had to overtake Leclerc having come out behind the Ferrari man. He was initially unimpressed, thinking he’d been undercut but it soon emerged Leclerc had yet to stop. As for Perez, a great start jumped him up the order and he picked off Colapinto in the pits to grab the final point on offer.

READ MORE: Verstappen calls P2 in Singapore ‘good achievement’ but insists Red Bull ‘have to improve’ for future races

Max Verstappen, 2nd

“Coming in second today was a good result for us. I think my start was quite decent but there wasn’t a lot of grip on that side so was difficult to have a go into turn one. The degradation was also quite high for me in the first stint. During the race, we didn’t have the pace to fight for first unfortunately, so I managed the tyres and drove my own race. We know that this of course is not our strongest track, but there is still a bit of work to do as we didn’t have the pace that we would have liked, but I think the damage limitation was done. Of course we always want more so we will go back and analyse what we can do better; we have a few weeks to try and find more performance and better balance in the car when we restart in Austin, so we can fight for a win again and not lose points. Ultimately, today we made a step forward. If you had told me last week that we would be P2 I would be happy with this, so I feel like this has been very positive for us."

Sergio Perez, 10th

“Tonight’s result was a shame I think, we had a great start, but we lost an opportunity to undercut some cars, like we saw Carlos and Ferrari do. It was really unfortunate, after passing three cars at the start, it then became a tricky race. It was frustrating and I think we missed out a bit on the strategy side. I struggled quite a lot with the car bouncing and the balance, it was just not settling down, I had a real issue with it. It became impossible to overtake Franco and Niko, We understand where the issues are, there is a fix but this was a very difficult track for us. It is now time to look forward for the rest of the season, the upcoming tracks should be better for us and we are looking at a package which should help us."

Christian Horner, Team Principal

"First off, congratulations to McLaren and Lando, they were clearly the best car on track today. The gap to Lando was significant in the first part of the race, and on the hard tyre we looked in better shape, but the gap was too big and this track is historically very hard to overtake on. Max drove a strong race today and P2 was what we had. If you consider where we were a few weeks ago the progress is visible, and we have the better part of a month to put our heads down and make some progress before we head to Austin. There will be a lot of late nights in Milton Keynes. As a Team, we wanted to avoid a repeat of last year in Singapore, and the effort that went in to preparing for this race resulted in giving the drivers a better car and more confidence in the direction of development. Checo unfortunately struggled to overtake during the race, he didn’t feel like he had traction in key parts of the track, and P10 is what he could manage today. The McLaren is the benchmark car at the moment and we have a bit to catch up to at the moment, but we have the people, the ability, and the drive to do just that. We are still in the fight, and now have a few weeks to work on things before we go again."

Mercedes

Mercedes split strategies at the start, Russell on the mediums and Hamilton on the softs. It was soon clear that Russell had the better strategy, Hamilton struggling and having to pit earlier than the other front runners. That cost him his podium, as he spent too much of his valuable rubber fighting his way back through the field. Russell inherited his team mate’s podium spot, and looked on for third for much of the race but he couldn’t hold a faster McLaren at bay late on, although he did manage to stop Leclerc from getting past on the final lap.

Lewis Hamilton, 6th

"It is hard to describe the range of emotions you feel when we have a difficult race like that. This year continues to be a testing one for everyone, but we are all pushing as hard as we can. We don’t always get things right and that was the case today with our strategy. We all head into the weekend, and every decision we take, with the right intentions and sometimes it doesn’t work out. It can be frustrating, but we are all in this together.

"We have lost some form to the leaders in the past few races and we’re working hard to figure out why that is. We will do what we do best though and that is to come together as a team, analyse and refocus ahead of Austin. We will head there with energy, drive, and determination. It’s another opportunity to show what we can do when we get things right and to hopefully take a step forward with the car."

George Russell, 4th

"After a very difficult Friday, we would have likely taken P4 in the Grand Prix. Our pace in Qualifying however made us believe we could achieve more. Today was no doubt a difficult race for us, both challenging in terms of our pace but also physically. The McLarens were very impressive and in another league to us, whilst Max (Verstappen) had the legs on us. We were able to hold off the Ferrari of Charles (Leclerc) in the closing stages, so it was very much an evening of damage limitation. Given the pace of the car, that was the very best we could have achieved.

"We have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks to understand why we’ve struggled to challenge at the front in the past few races. We haven’t been as competitive since the summer break and that is frustrating. We will work hard to get on top of it though and hopefully the updates we bring to the next race in Austin will help us take a step closer to the front."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"That was a really painful evening for us. P4 and P6 is not a good result after starting P3 and P4. Our strategy decisions in the race were determined by our experiences in the past here where track position is crucial. We thought that the Soft tyre would give Lewis an advantage at the start but that turned out to be the wrong decision. With our challenges managing the rear surfaces, we went backwards. Overtaking proved possible, contrary to previous races here where it has been more processional, and in hindsight we should have started him on the Medium.

"It doesn’t hide the fact though that we were too slow today. We are struggling at the moment with tracks that are hot and demanding on traction, like here and Baku, but that is no excuse. It is difficult for us to accept but we must do and find a way to improve. We now look ahead to Austin where we will have an update coming and we hope that will move us forward."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"Our pace was ultimately poor today and that made for an incredibly challenging evening. Having qualified within a couple of tenths of Norris and Verstappen, we anticipated being able to race for the podium. That shaped our decision to start on the Soft compound with Lewis as we looked to make up ground on the opening lap. Unfortunately, with our lack of pace and struggles to control the rear tyre temperatures, that proved the incorrect decision and left him in for a tough race.

"It was very much a case of a defensive strategy and race for George. We had to pick our battles, and it was clear that we didn’t have the speed to be in a fight with the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. He was much faster and, with a tyre advantage, was always going to get through. George did well to hold off the hard-charging Ferrari of Leclerc and limit the damage.

"We’ve now got the opportunity over the next few weeks to analyse and understand what happened to our pace today. We had moments over the weekend where we were competitive, so we know there is inherent pace in the car. We will also be bringing an update package to the car at the next race and we hope that can bring us closer to the fight at the front."

Ferrari

Both Ferraris managed to make up some ground after a tricky Saturday. Leclerc initially had a frustrating afternoon, stuck behind the likes of Hulkenberg and Alonso. But running a very long first stint on the mediums yielding some good results late on, as he picked off Hamilton and ran out of time to get Russell. Sainz stopped earlier than many and thus undercut some of his rivals, working hard to climb to seventh at the flag.

Charles Leclerc, 5th

"We maximised our potential today and our race execution was really good. The first stint was a bit frustrating and long for me, it required a lot of patience, staying steady behind slower cars ahead. On the second stint, things looked better and we had a really good pace in clean air.

"I pushed quite a bit and towards the end of the race, when it was time to overtake George [Russell], my rear tyres were not in the best shape and we didn’t manage to gain that position, but we did a good job anyway. Overall, it isn’t the most satisfying weekend for us, but as a team, we can be proud of turning things around and bringing home this P5 today."

Carlos Sainz, 7th

"It was a challenging race. We took a risk by pitting very early, but we made it work to the end, gaining some positions. We knew our pace was solid and I enjoyed some good overtakes on track. Today was about damage limitation, but we leave Singapore with a sense of disappointment.

"Now there is a gap to reset and come back stronger for the last races of the season. There are still a lot of points in play and we need to maximise every weekend."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"I’m very pleased with how we performed today, less so with Saturday. We had a good strategy, good race management and we ran a very strong race on both sides of the garage.

"Carlos had a difficult start after which he showed good pace and in the closing stages, Charles was matching Norris for pace and Russell was not that far in front at the end. We could not really expect more than this fifth place from where we started.

"We now have a three week gap to the next race and I expect all the teams, including ourselves, will bring something new to Austin. It’s the first part of a triple-header and I expect that, as usual, some of these three tracks will suit some teams better than others."

Aston Martin

Alonso had to take avoiding action at the start as Russell and Piastri lurched wide, and managed not to lose too much time on the dirty run off area. From there, he looked on for points but it remained to be seen how many. Alonso delivered enough strong laps when it mattered to jump Hulkenberg in the pit stop period, coming home as the best midfield runner. Stroll started on the hards in a bid to go long in case of a Safety Car, but nothing of that nature materialised and he came home outside the points.

Fernando Alonso, 8th

"It was a very physical race today, but we executed everything well and scored some good points. We tried the undercut strategy by stopping a few laps before the others and it worked quite well for us. In truth it has been a difficult car to drive all weekend, and we have done very well to finish only a few seconds behind a Ferrari. We have a lot of work to do back at Silverstone in the next few weeks to try and improve our performance for Austin."

Lance Stroll, 14th

"It's been a very difficult weekend here in Singapore. On my laps to the grid I felt some strange vibrations, so the team worked quickly to replace a set of brakes as a precaution. It was a huge effort from the mechanics out there, so a big thanks to them for getting that sorted so quickly in this heat.

"We knew it was going to be a tough race and we suffered from similar issues to yesterday: grip and balance. Austin is a very different circuit, so we'll hope that it is better suited to our car."

Mike Krack, Team Principal

"Tonight we saw an impressive test of human performance with the drivers completing 62 laps of racing under the lights in Singapore with high humidity, temperatures of over 30C and no rest bite.

"Lance's crew worked swiftly on a precautionary brake issue that we saw on the laps to the grid. They showed incredible teamwork to change front brakes, and Lance was able to complete the race without any issues. Lance did well but unusually we didn’t see a safety car in Singapore which may have opened some opportunities.

"Fernando's four points are another hard-won reward for an impressive Qualifying and race of endurance. Some decent points from the double-header here and in Baku. We now have a mini break to regroup and find more performance ahead of the last six Grands Prix starting in Austin.

"I would like to thank everyone in the garage who have worked in these extreme conditions this week."

Haas

Hulkenberg managed to get past Piastri at the start, but soon lost that place to the faster McLaren. But he did brilliantly to hold everyone else at bay in the opening stint, but lost out in the pits to Alonso. Both Ferraris recovered past him too, but he held onto P9 for two much needed points for Haas. As for Magnussen, he clipped the walls late on and was a bit unlucky to get a puncture from that moment. He initially came back out but the damage his car had sustained was too much, and he retired late on.

Nico Hulkenberg, 9th

“I’m happy to get points. There are a few things to look into and review from our side, but otherwise a clean race. It wasn’t very eventful but it was very stressful keeping the Red Bull behind for the whole of the second stint, it was tough to bring it home. We managed to do so, and I’m happy, this is a bit of redemption for last week. We’ve been there or thereabouts many times this season, and it’s not the first time we’ve pulled it off. We put ourselves in a good position yesterday with quali which was another key point. I had a clean start, a clean race, and it’s important that we got those points.”

Kevin Magnussen, DNF

“I got a puncture - sometimes you hit a rough spot and it cuts the tyre. We weren’t quick on the hard tyre, we tried to do the opposite strategy and go long and hope for a safety car in the middle window, which didn’t happen. We had to cut it short on the hard compound, and then I got the puncture at the end. We’ve had good pace at recent races and we’re in a good spot with the car. We have an upgrade coming in Austin and we have every race to look forward to for the rest of the season.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It was great to come away with two points and now scoring points in three consecutive races is very good. The consistency is there, and Nico drove very well today; his second stint had pressure the entire time from a Red Bull and he didn’t make any mistakes and brought the car home in P9. That’s two more points and only three away from RB with six races to go. We also opened up another two-point gap to Williams as well, so mission accomplished.”

Williams

Colapinto dived past his more experienced team mate at the start, seemingly catching Albon by surprise. That sent Albon wide and onto the dusty run off area, and that in turn cost him a handful of places. The race went from bad to worse for Albon, who then had to retire with an overheating car. As for Colapinto, he came oh so close to another point for the team, but was beaten by Perez in the pits and couldn’t fight back against the Mexican in the second stint.

Alex Albon, DNF

"It’s unfortunate to finish today how we did when I believe we had a car that could’ve scored points this weekend. Ultimately, a cooling issue with the power unit ended our race, however after a difficult start being forced a little wide, it would’ve been difficult to come back from there. Sometimes you have a car that isn’t capable of scoring points so when you do, it’s very satisfying, but this weekend was the opposite; we had a super quick car and we should’ve been in the points, so it’s frustrating. We will review everything and see how we can improve for the remaining races."

Franco Colapinto, 11th

"It’s a pity we didn’t finish in the top 10 after being there at the beginning of the race. I think it was possible to stay in the points and keep [Checo] Pérez behind with it being a difficult track to overtake. However, we didn’t defend as well as we could have and by stopping a lap too late, we lost a place. It is what it is, and we win and lose together as a team. Tyre management was good throughout the race, but I was struggling a bit physically which was more of a limiting factor. Overall, P11 was still a decent result, and it was a very positive race to build on what I’ve learned so far."

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director

"We were hoping for more today as we had a strong car so it’s a shame to come away without points. After Franco’s single pitstop we lost P10 to [Checo] Pérez, Franco stayed close to him and [Nico] Hülkenberg but was unable to make a pass into the points. Nevertheless, Franco ran a solid weekend in extremely tough conditions in only his third grand prix and we are pleased with his performance. In terms of Alex’s race, it’s always disappointing when you have to retire a car; we experienced some cooling issues but need to assess this in the coming days. It’s clear that we have brought performance to the car with the upgrades over the past few races, but we didn’t get it all right as a team this weekend to score points for a third time in a row. We will now use this small break in the calendar to regroup ahead of the next triple header as there is still a lot to play for."

RB

Ricciardo was the driver to start on the softs, and was the first to pit. That strategy didn’t work out for him, with the RB’s race pace not too impressive. But he played his part late on, pitting for some softs and bagging the fastest lap to deny Norris an extra bonus point and do his former team mate Verstappen a favour – which may well prove decisive come Abu Dhabi. Further up the field, Tsunoda didn’t get a good start and immediately dropped backwards – never really looking likely to recover back to the points.

Daniel Ricciardo, 18th

“It was a tough race. After qualifying out of position yesterday, we knew we had to try something with our strategy. We went aggressive at the start on the soft tyre and looked for an opportunity. It was a difficult race for overtaking, not many people were carving through the field. Ultimately, we weren’t quite quick enough, with Yuki also finishing outside of the points. We were in a position to go for the fastest lap at the end, and it was nice to secure this. It also felt really special to be voted Driver of the Day by my fans today.”

Yuki Tsunoda, 12th

“I was very frustrated with the start of the race, as unfortunately, I got past by some cars and I lost important positions. We went as long as we could with the first stint, and it was pretty tough going until Lap 33 with medium tyres. In that situation, we were just waiting for a Safety Car, which maybe could have been a good opportunity for us, but it didn’t happen as it was a clean race. Then we changed for fresher tyres putting on the softs. That last run was pretty good and I felt better than the one on mediums, but the bad start was our main problem today, which deprived us of scoring points.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“This was a better performance overall than in recent races, but not good enough for points. We did however look competitive right from Friday with both Daniel and Yuki. Yuki then produced a strong qualifying to get into Q3, which was a very encouraging result. Lining up eighth on the grid, we were hoping for points. Unfortunately, Yuki dropped 3 places off the line and from then on it was always going to be very difficult to pass. Our starts have not been good enough this season and this is something we are working very hard to improve. In a tight field like ours, it means the difference between points or not. On the positive side Yuki produced a very strong final stint on the soft tyre, it was a daring call to put him on that soft compound for so many laps, but it worked and gave us a good pace advantage, even if that was not enough to get back into the points. Starting from further back, we really needed a Safety Car opportunity for Daniel to get back into the fight for points. Dan was on an aggressive strategy starting on Softs and has put in some very good laps through the race, but had effectively no chance to get back into the good positions from so far back. He never gave up and fought all race long. Given this may have been Daniel’s last race, we wanted to give him the chance to savour it and go out with the fastest lap. We have now a few weeks to prepare our last push for the final part of the championship and the 2 incoming triple headers. Competition is tighter than ever and we will give it our very best shout.”

Guillaume Dezoteux, Head of Vehicle Performance

“Starting from P8 we were hoping to finish closer to the points with Yuki. We lost some ground at the start and we were 11th at the end of the first lap, which was a big hit. We were on an aggressive strategy, going long on the medium tyre but we were missing a bit of pace to actually stay with the cars in front of us. The soft tyre was well managed and we closed the gap to Colapinto but we were too far to actually put him under pressure at the end of the race. With regards to Daniel, we wanted to offset him early in the race as the traffic effect is big here. The first part of his stint on medium tyres was competitive and well managed, but he started to lose a lot when fighting with Gasly. We are definitely missing a bit of pace compared to our direct competitors, so this is something we will analyse to see what we could have done differently, while preparing for the next triple headers in the best possible way.”

Alpine

Alpine knew this track didn’t suit them, and they didn’t manage to make too many inroads from their starting slots. Gasly ran an extremely long opening stint on the mediums, but didn’t get rewarded with a late Safety Car while Ocon’s strategy mirrored those around him. They will be hoping the next glut of circuits play more to their strengths, especially with championship rivals’ Williams looking so strong at the moment.

Esteban Ocon, 13th

“We had a good start in today’s race, gaining a few positions off the line, but we did not have the pace to be a points contender, and we were unable to keep up with the train of cars ahead. We maximised what we had, but without any big opportunities for us to capitalise on we weren’t able to move further ahead. We have a good break ahead of us where I’m sure we are all looking forward to some recovery before a busy final few months of the season. We must continue to work hard, aim to extract more from the package, and be in a position where we can optimise everything that we have in our hands.”

Pierre Gasly, 17th

“A very difficult and frustrating race for us in the end. We are just not quick or competitive enough at the moment. The lack of pace forced us to try some different strategies in hope of improving our end result. We stayed out long on the Mediums on the first stint and lost a lot of time to cars we were racing at the start. The plan then was to disrupt some cars behind in the hope to benefit Esteban to get something from the race. The reality is three races ago [in Zandvoort] we were ninth place and at the last three races we have been far away from the top ten. We have to find some performance and there is a lot of work ahead of us to improve our current level. I look forward to a short break before Austin where we all must be determined for a return to form.”

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal

“It was a tough day on track and a repeat of what we saw in Qualifying, which follows the trend from the previous couple of races. We had expected to perform better here on this circuit configuration, but we did not have the pace. This is the reality of where we are currently. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to bring more performance to the car in the coming races. With four weeks until Austin, we need a final push to the end of the season.”

Kick Sauber

Both drivers started on the hards and swapped to the mediums midway through the race, Bottas coming in one lap ahead of his team mate. They had some entertaining battles down the back of the field, Zhou holding off a fresher shod Sainz at one point but they didn’t look likely to make their way forward on a day where overtaking was tricky.

Valtteri Bottas, 16th

“As expected, today was a tough race. Early on, I had issues with my front brakes overheating, which led to some front locking and eventually cost me time. We worked as a team to stay with the cars ahead in the opening stages, but we just couldn’t quite manage it. On the plus side, we had a clean start, which later allowed us to stay ahead of a few competitors, but the race pace was still not what we needed, and we didn’t get any help from safety cars today. Now, it’s important we use these three weeks to find some performance, and hopefully, bring a strong upgrade to Austin to reset and finish the season on a high.”

Zhou Guanyu, 15th

"I think today was a more positive race, compared to recent outings, as we showed that we can fight better with our competitors on high fuel. Clearly, something we need to work on is our one-lap pace to start from a higher position, but overall, it was a good race without mistakes. Today, we executed our plan well as a team and not only was my race clean, but I also played my part in the team strategy by helping Valtteri. I did exactly what Carlos [Sainz] did last year, consistently keeping Valtteri in my DRS zone to help him stay ahead of Pierre [Gasly], which was very important and helped us bring home the cars in 15th and 16th. The team gave me clear instructions, and I followed them in the most efficient way possible, doing everything I could to support the team. Hopefully, we can continue to make progress and make another step forward after the break."

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative

"We completed a difficult weekend on a positive note, finishing P15 and P16 with Zhou and Valtteri. This shows that we improved on our starting position, unlike in the previous race and, on merit, finished ahead of one Alpine and one Racing Bull. Today, I especially want to praise Zhou for being a true team player. After his pit stop, we asked him to give Valtteri DRS from lap 40 onwards, and he helped his teammate stay ahead of Pierre Gasly by managing his pace while keeping in the necessary window. Both Zhou and Valtteri followed our instructions on tyre management, and we ended up with a positive result, particularly for the teamwork we demonstrated. This race shows that, while we still have a lot of work ahead, we are not out of the fight. We are here, maximising everything we have on track together with our drivers, our technical partners, and our remote garage, who supported our trackside engineers brilliantly today. We’ve made a step forward compared to the past, and we will continue to push."

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“All in all, this was a relatively straightforward race, without a single neutralisation, the first time that has happened in the history of this race. The one-stop proved to be definitely the quickest and all three compounds behaved as expected. The Medium and the Hard clearly saw the most use, but the Soft also proved its worth, as could be seen for example in the times set by Hamilton on full fuel load in his first 17 lap stint, or with Tsunoda over 28 laps in the second part of the race, with a perfectly acceptable level of degradation.

“When it comes to evaluating tyre performance, an important factor to consider is the level of pace management adopted by the drivers, together with how much traffic they encountered at various stages of the race. That was particularly relevant with the Medium, because depending on their pace, some drivers were able to extend their first stint well beyond the window predicted by the strategy simulations, which opened up the possibility of using the Soft, as was the case with the aforementioned Tsunoda and Gasly.

“After four races in five weeks, Formula 1 takes a short break now, ahead of the triple-header in the Americas. But for our group, the work on track continues, with four days of testing which is only possible thanks to the vital support of the teams, in this case, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.”

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