Singapore GP – Syndication Server

Singapore setback pushed Verstappen to new heights – Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the failure to win the Singapore Grand Prix hurt Max Verstappen but also redoubled his determination, while also demonstrating how difficult it is to be competitive at every race in modern-day …

Singapore was the only race that Red Bull failed to win in 2023, with the night race in September bringing to an end the team’s hopes of completing an unprecedented clean sweep. Verstappen had won 10 in a row heading to Singapore and was also victorious in the seven rounds that followed, but Horner says it had a clear impact on the world champion.

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“I think that race just brings everything into reality, that I think quite often we made winning look easy this year,” Horner said. “Winning is never easy. And I think that race just brought it home, that if you miss the target, it’s small margins.

“I think just setup-wise, we arrived with a setup that our simulation tools had led us down the route of, and it just didn’t work on that circuit, on that day, particularly in qualifying. In the race the pace started to come back to us, but I think if we’d known what we knew after the event going into the event, we would have been in a much more competitive position.

“What was interesting for me most of all out of that event was how much… not frustration, but it hurt Max not winning that event. By the time he arrived in Japan, he was so motivated — probably the most motivated I’ve seen him over the last few years — to really lay a marker down in Suzuka.

“I traveled with him from Tokyo to Suzuka, and he said, ‘I’m going to win this race by 20 seconds.’ His very first lap in practice on a set of hard tires was just stunning. It was 2.5 seconds quicker than anybody else. I think his first flying lap would have put him third in that session.

“It was an insane performance all weekend. And he won the race by 19.4 seconds, and I said to him, as we won the constructors’ that day, ‘Well, you nearly made the 20 seconds.’ He said, ‘I had a blue flag, it cost me half a second on that last lap!’ Honestly, that was one of the strongest displays I’ve ever seen from a driver on that weekend.”

As well as Singapore showing how hard Red Bull had to work to maximize each weekend, Horner believes it also provides a bit of context into Verstappen’s level of performance.

“It’s been a massive, massive year. I think particularly for Max, when you look back at the season that he’s had, particularly across the different challenges of the different venues, circuits, conditions, he’s been just phenomenal this year. I think that it’s sometimes easy to understate what he’s achieved, which has been nothing short of outstanding.”

Stroll says racing in Singapore would have delayed recovery from near-50G impact

Lance Stroll says he suffered an impact of nearly 50G in qualifying in Singapore and racing the following day would have delayed his recovery for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. Aston Martin and Stroll took the joint decision to withdraw Stroll …

Lance Stroll says he suffered an impact of nearly 50G in qualifying in Singapore and racing the following day would have delayed his recovery for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Aston Martin and Stroll took the joint decision to withdraw Stroll from last weekend’s race after his heavy crash on Saturday, despite the Canadian passing the required tests. With the team struggling as Fernando Alonso finished outside the points, Stroll doesn’t view it as a justifiable absence on performance terms but says it was the right decision to be fully fit for Suzuka.

“I’m much better than I was on Sunday!” Stroll said Thursday at Suzuka. “I’m feeling OK now.

“I was fine (in that) I was healthy to race but I wasn’t physically feeling good enough to do Singapore, which is the hardest race of the year. I felt it creeping up on me on Saturday night and I knew it wasn’t going to be fun waking up on Sunday morning.

“For me it’s always an opportunity to race on Sunday and try to score some points. We saw drivers start pretty far back on Sunday and manage to climb through the field and score points. You never know what happens. If I had felt fine and really good I would have raced but I really didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. I really think it would have delayed my recovery to come here and feel 100%.”

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Stroll also says he has no complaints over the curbs at the final corner where he crashed, saying street tracks should punish mistakes rather than be made easier for drivers.

“I mean, if it was maybe a bit flatter it could prevent something like that happening, but I think that’s also the nature of street circuits,” he said. “Singapore, Monaco, Baku, those kind of places, if there wasn’t a wall there then it would be like all the other tracks and I think that’s kind of the nice challenge about street circuits — when you do push a little bit too hard the track bites back.

“For every experience you learn from it and then put it behind you and full focus on the next weekend. That’s how I’m looking at the whole thing. It was definitely frustrating to finish the weekend like that, there was a lot more potential in the car and the weekend, but that was how it ended and now I’m fully focused and looking forward to Suzuka.”

Despite feeling fit to race in Japan, Stroll is also wary that Suzuka might not suit Aston Martin as it becomes increasingly difficult to identify a pecking order before each race weekend.

“It’s always tricky to answer this question — it’s such a tight field now and I think we’re a bit on the draggy side,” noted the Canadian. “Here, there’s still a lot of straights so it is important to be efficient. I’m not sure how our pace will be in Sector 1 in the high-speed corners, but I think if we manage to get the car well balanced, set up properly and we’re not too draggy, then we’ll have a good weekend.

“But like I said, it’s really tough to answer those questions because I don’t think it’s as clear about where you would be on certain tracks as it was in previous years, because it feels just so tight now. We see a lot of teams bounce back and forward (from) where they might have been last weekend and then on a different kind of track, the situation changes a lot, so I hope we can be very competitive.”

No need for Red Bull to overreact to Singapore defeat – Verstappen

Max Verstappen believes there’s no need for Red Bull to overreact to the problems it faced in last weekend’s Singapore GP because he expects the team’s struggles to be specific to the characteristics of that circuit. Red Bull entered the Singapore …

Red Bull entered the Singapore weekend unbeaten in 2023, but struggled with its car setup throughout Friday and Saturday and ended up with both cars dropping out in Q2. Although Verstappen was far more competitive in race trim he was still limited to fifth, leaving Carlos Sainz to claim the first non-Red Bull victory of the year.

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“We have a few ideas but I cannot go into details,” Verstappen said of the problems the team faced. “There are many people involved and we’ll analyze it, but it is not something that needs to be decided today.”

Starting from 11th, Verstappen was on the hard compound tire but a safety car in the first half of the race negated any advantage, so he was limited to a charging final stint on softs. However, his ultimate pace was strong as he closed a 20-second gap to Charles Leclerc in the final five laps.

“It is not what we wanted but I think (Sunday) was a little bit better. We were still unlucky during the race with all the safety cars going against us,” he said. “Clearly we learned quite a bit from (the race) and maybe what we did wrong (in qualifying) — I can’t go into details, but the problem is we can only show it next year, if we come back, if it is better or not.

“This track is so different to Suzuka that you cannot really relate (them). The car is completely different to set up. (Suzuka) should be good for our car.”

Red Bull’s defeat in Singapore came against growing speculation about whether the team could manage to piece together an unbeaten season, but Verstappen said he’s taking the result in his stride.

“I knew that this day would come, so for me it is absolutely fine,” he said. “Everything needs to be perfect. Everyone is always saying, ‘Ah, look how dominant they are and look how easy it is,’ but you know it is never easy and (there are) a lot of details that we need to get right. (In Singapore) clearly we didn’t get a few things right, and then you are on the back foot.”

Aston Martin looks to rebound from first scoreless weekend of ’23

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack insists the team will not be affected by its first scoreless weekend of the Formula 1 season in Singapore. Fernando Alonso had scored points in every race so far this year up to Singapore, where a combination …

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack insists the team will not be affected by its first scoreless weekend of the Formula 1 season in Singapore.

Fernando Alonso had scored points in every race so far this year up to Singapore, where a combination of car struggles and a pit stop issue limited him to 15th place, while Lance Stroll was withdrawn from the event following his crash in qualifying. With only Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton left as those who have scored in each grand prix, Krack (pictured second from right, above) says it’s not an interruption that will have a major impact on the team.

“We had a run of scoring every race. Like Max’s series, this one stopped (in Singapore), but this will not affect us now as a big hit or whatever,” Krack said. “We are looking forward to Japan and there are a lot of races to come still, so we are not too bothered. Obviously it is not nice, but it is not a drama.”

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Aston’s struggles came in a race where Red Bull was also out of the picture for victory as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz headed home McLaren’s Lando Norris, but Krack believes there will be more chances for other teams to pick up wins.

“We always said we have to be there when the day comes. We were not in a position to do it, so the victory goes to someone else, and this is what we have to acknowledge,” he said. “They were there, and we need to be there when the next opportunity comes.

“I’m sure there will be opportunities — you always have weather and other things — so I think we are positive. We try to do the best for the races to come and see where we end up.”

While not giving up on second place in the constructors’ championship, Krack says he’s also aware of McLaren’s threat in the standings with four teams — also including Mercedes and Ferrari — in a close fight.

“Yeah, there was a big swing in Zandvoort for once for us; there was now a big swing in their favor. I think the fight will go on with all these teams all along the season. So far we have seen that it’s just one team not being affected by anything. (In Singapore) we have seen that everybody can have ups and downs. I think it will be interesting until the end.

“There are still some things to come over the next races, and at the same time develop the new car.”

‘I don’t think I’ve ever fought so hard for a point’ – Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen believes his tenth place at the Singapore Grand Prix was the hardest-fought point of his career so far, but isn’t expecting a repeat any time soon. Haas hadn’t scored on a Sunday since the Miami Grand Prix, but had a golden …

Kevin Magnussen believes his tenth place at the Singapore Grand Prix was the hardest-fought point of his career so far, but isn’t expecting a repeat any time soon.

Haas hadn’t scored on a Sunday since the Miami Grand Prix, but had a golden opportunity with Magnussen starting sixth and Nico Hulkenberg ninth in Singapore. As has often been the case, the race pace didn’t match the qualifying performance but Magnussen recovered from losing multiple positions at one stage to climb back into 11th and then inherit 10th when George Russell crashed on the final lap.

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“We’re pleased with that,” Magnussen said. “It was a hard fight and I don’t think I’ve ever fought so hard for a point, but I really, really wanted it and after a good qualifying it would have been so disappointing not to get anything out of it.

“It looked tough at one point, and once I had that off in Turn 1 and 2 I thought it was game over, my tires were just done.

“So we pitted for a soft and it worked really well. The pace was good, I made up a few positions and then a few people crashed and I got a point, so I’m glad I worked so hard for that.

“I just tried as hard as I could. I wanted to make sure there was nothing left out there and it paid off.”

Magnussen was particularly proud of the way Haas took advantage of the chance to score on Sunday, although he believes the track characteristics at Suzuka this coming weekend will prove painful for the team.

“We got an opportunity and we took it – we were ready to capitalize. That’s what I always say. We go into these races and we know the race pace isn’t going to be that good and tire degradation is not on our side and we’ve just got to be ready to take any opportunity there is and we did that.

“I think (Singapore) with the sharp 90-degree corners, you don’t have to combine so long. The entry phase is very sharp, so that phase is a lot shorter on this track for most of the lap, so that means we’re not as exposed in the weakness we have in the car.

“Suzuka is the opposite to that, very, very long entries and exits, it’s not really what we like so much!”

Hamilton backs Russell after costly Singapore mistake

Lewis Hamilton says George Russell drove “phenomenally” in the Singapore Grand Prix and his last-lap mistake should not overshadow his teammate’s performance. Russell was running in third place chasing down leaders Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris on …

Lewis Hamilton says George Russell drove “phenomenally” in the Singapore Grand Prix and his last-lap mistake should not overshadow his teammate’s performance.

Russell was running in third place chasing down leaders Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris on fresh tires – with Hamilton in tow – when he clipped the wall at Turn 10 on the final lap and went straight on into the barrier. That promoted Hamilton into third but the seven-time world champion pointed to his own error in the same race a year ago when he locked up and hit the wall in wet conditions as a sign of how close to an incident drivers regularly are.

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“We’re all trying to be millimeter-perfect out there and it’s very, very easy to make mistakes,” Hamilton said. “It’s very easy too for any us to have been in the position that George was in. He’s been driving phenomenally all weekend, so it was really unfortunate for him – last lap – to finish that way.

“But he continues to grow, he’s continuing to improve so I know that he’s going to keep getting stronger and faster and if there’s any way I can help, I will be a part of that naturally in the next couple of years.

“I have a lot of experience, I’ve been here a long time so putting together a race is… not that it’s easy but the race is where I’m most comfortable on track. I think it’s just keeping your head down, it’s trying not to make (mistakes) … but if you look at last year for example, I made a mistake in Turn 7 and went off and crashed into the wall so it can happen to any one of us and it’s just one of those things.”

With Russell pitting out of second place and Hamilton fourth under a late Virtual Safety Car to take on fresh mediums and try to fight for the win, Hamilton says it felt like a gamble worth taking on his side but was perhaps less clear cut for his team-mate.

“We needed to take the risk, have a shot at trying to get past (Sainz and Norris) and going for the win. I think we had really good pace. So I think the team did a great job.

“I don’t know, I think George was in second at the time, and maybe if I was in his position, I probably would have stayed out and at least kept the McLaren behind. But we gave it a shot. And it was really fun to be hunting these guys down. It was just too difficult to pass in the end.”

Maiden points a ‘bonus’ for Lawson

Liam Lawson says points weren’t his priority despite the AlphaTauri replacement scoring on just his third start in the challenging Singapore grand prix. Daniel Ricciardo was present in Singapore to help in an engineering capacity as Lawson took on …

Liam Lawson says points weren’t his priority despite the AlphaTauri replacement scoring on just his third start in the challenging Singapore grand prix.

Daniel Ricciardo was present in Singapore to help in an engineering capacity as Lawson took on the tough street circuit while he continues to deputize for the injured Australian. Reaching Q3 for the first time — as the lead Red Bull driver — was a major achievement in itself but Lawson backed that up with ninth place after George Russell’s late crash, although he says the final result is not the only way to earn himself a full-time drive.

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“Maybe 20 laps to go, before Max (Verstappen) and the Red Bulls were coming back, at that point I thought we had a chance,” Lawson said. “Then I felt like it was slipping away again. I guess when Checo (Perez) and (Alex) Albon had their fight and Albon went back, that was when I felt a bit more comfortable that like we could at least score P10.

“Obviously it was a bonus… I mean not a bonus to see somebody crash out for George, but for us obviously it means we get an extra point.

“It’s a goal, but to be honest, I’m just trying to maximize every race, every session and finish as high as we can. So (on Sunday) that was points, which is great. We’ll try and do even more hopefully in the future for… if I get the chance to drive again.”

Lawson looked physically drained after what is the toughest fitness test on the calendar, and admits that was one area where he struggled, as well as executing his race start.

“It was tough. Obviously this place is extremely tough on the body, especially when you’re fighting the car a lot. It makes it that bit extra difficult, but happy to survive the race.

“For me, the start I need to get on top of, because it’s now two weekends in a row that I’ve botched the start, basically, and lost a couple of positions. So it’s just making our life more difficult. So that’s really the biggest loss of the race and that’s on my part.

“For the rest, I think we extracted everything out of the car. We didn’t quite have the race pace. To be honest, we felt going into the race it was going to be a little bit difficult, because we felt this on Friday as well. But we tried to correct it as much as we could. So, I think we maximized.”

Vasseur’s first Ferrari win caps off recovery push from Jeddah

Team principal Fred Vasseur says Ferrari’s recovery since early in the season is something to be proud of after continuing to build confidence with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix. Ferrari struggled in Saudi Arabia in just the second round of …

Team principal Fred Vasseur says Ferrari’s recovery since early in the season is something to be proud of after continuing to build confidence with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Ferrari struggled in Saudi Arabia in just the second round of the season, finishing over half a minute off the pace in sixth and seventh, but Vasseur says the reaction to that has been impressive, with it culminating in his first win as team principal courtesy of Carlos Sainz at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Sunday.

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“Honestly, it was a strange feeling for me on the pit wall, because I was not too stressed the last couple of laps,” Vasseur said. “I was much more stressed when I watch back the last couple of laps when I was out of the race than during the race, and perhaps that’s the feeling that Carlos was really under control of the situation.

“On the podium it was a bit emotional because it was the first one. But at this stage, I was more thinking about what we did from Jeddah. Jeddah was a tough weekend for us, and we had a very good recovery after Jeddah, good teamwork. I think we built up the confidence step by step and the pace. I’m more than proud for the job done by the factory and the team guys.

“For sure it’s difficult, if you compare with Zandvoort, to imagine that we would be in such good shape in Singapore. But I think it’s also linked to the fact that we had a good weekend at Monza, from lap one, FP1.

“We built up the confidence in Monza, and Singapore is also the consequence of this one. The fact that we have Carlos so quick at the beginning of the weekend was also very helpful to us, and he did a very good job from the first lap to the last one. And with Charles (Leclerc), we had (good information) and it’s the best way to improve.”

While much of the race went to plan for Ferrari as it started Leclerc on soft tires to help him jump George Russell off the line and be able to protect race leader Sainz, Vasseur was impressed with the way the Spaniard used Lando Norris in the closing stages without his teammate nearby.

“It was the idea of Carlos. I don’t want to say (anything against McLaren) but he knew that he was more at risk with Mercedes than with Norris. With Norris we had the same tires and almost the same pace from lap one, and we were not really at risk with Norris except if we lost the tire. It was a clever move from Carlos to keep Norris in the DRS.”

Technical directive not behind Red Bull’s Singapore slump – Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insists a technical directive was not the cause of the difficulties faced in the Singapore Grand Prix, as the team’s run of winning every race this season came to an end. Max Verstappen qualified 11th and …

Max Verstappen qualified 11th and Sergio Perez 13th as Red Bull struggled heavily on Saturday, leaving it out of contention on a track that is tough to overtake on. The challenging weekend coincided with a technical directive from the FIA that targeted flexible bodywork – specifically front and rear wings – coming into force, but Horner says that’s no the explanation for Red Bull’s run of wins ending.

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“It’s all engineering stuff,” Horner said. “There’s no silver bullets in this business. I know all of you would love to blame the TD, but unfortunately we can’t even blame that because it has not changed a single component on our car. So I think circuit characteristics are different here and we haven’t optimized the car in the right window to extract the most.”

Elaborating on how Red Bull viewed its weekend, Horner said the race pace was actually far more competitive than the qualifying speed, but strategic gambles didn’t pay off.

“I think, firstly, we understood a lot more in the race and the pace of the car came much more back to what we expected. We knew coming here we expected to have closer competition but it took us a bit by surprise how just how far out we were on Friday.

“We were just not in the right operating window for the car, particularly over a single lap. When you are not there, the tires feel horrible, everything just doesn’t work. So I think we got a very good steer in the race, we saw, particularly in the latter stint, that Max’s pace was very strong.

“Unfortunately, in the race, by starting on the hard, we took a strategic gamble and the best way of that race paying us off was if we had an early safety car or if you get a safety car later on into the race. But the lap that the safety car came out on was strategically the worst possible lap for the strategy that we were on, because it gave the lead cars — the cars ahead of us — a free stop, at the same time giving us track position but making us take the restart with tires that were very hard to heat up again having done well over 20 laps. So then Max was picked off by the guys that had the free stop and then we had to take a pit stop that was in normal racing conditions, which then dropped you another 23 seconds behind.

“With that all considered, the recovery that we had, and the pace that we had – particularly in the latter stages of the race — to be 0.2s behind Charles (Leclerc) at the finish line, was a strong race.

“At some point we were going to get beaten. Fifteen in a row is an unbelievable record and we have only been beaten once prior to (Singapore) since last July.

“I have to congratulate Ferrari, particularly Carlos, who drove a very strong race and deserved to win. At the same time, we have narrowed in on both championships, which we have a chance of winning the constructors’ championship in Japan next weekend.”

Norris never thought a win was in the cards

Lando Norris thought he’d thrown away his second place in the Singapore Grand Prix when he clipped the wall moments before George Russell did too and crashed, the McLaren driver admitting he never felt he could beat Carlos Sainz to victory. Russell …

Russell hit the wall just before turning in at Turn 10, causing him to go straight on at that corner and lose third place on the final lap. Russell was trying to put pressure on Norris who had been closely following leader Sainz throughout the latter stages, but the McLaren driver says he knew he had no chance of overtaking the Spaniard and was instead focused on protecting second place before he too clipped the same wall directly ahead of Russell.

“George struggled to overtake me when he had a five-, six-tenth second per lap advantage, so the chance of me getting ahead of Carlos with a maybe one-tenth advantage, there was no chance,” Norris said. “I think Carlos played it smart. There was no need for me to try and attack him.

“The more I attacked him, probably the more vulnerable I would have been from both the guys behind. I wouldn’t be sitting here and wouldn’t have been on the podium if I had played it different. Stressful last few laps, for sure.

“I think we both knew as soon as the VSC came out, we had to put in a stint and a half and try and open up the gap as big as possible. They still caught us. Then it was about not making any mistakes. I knew with George, he was going to pressure me a lot, he did. I had to defend quite a bit into 15, 14. That’s when Carlos backed off after that, when there was a little bit of a gap, and allowed me to get the DRS again which was very helpful. I think we together played it in a smart way to get the Mercs to stay behind us.

“The last lap then I had a bit more of a breather. I hit the wall where George also hit the wall, but I hit it with the front, so I kind of panicked a bit, thinking I’d maybe just messed it all up. It damaged the steering — it was off center, but luckily it was nothing more than that. An amazing race, stressful race from start to finish. A lot of management, but perfectly executed.”

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Although Sainz was playing with the gap between the top two cars to ensure Norris had DRS and was able to keep the Mercedes drivers at bay, Norris says the McLaren’s performance was marginally better than Ferrari’s on Sunday.

“I think our pace was strong, honestly. I think initially I started to catch him myself. I think our pace was a bit better towards the end of stints. I think the Ferrari was a bit better in the initial part of the stints. I think I would have caught up to him ever so slightly anyway. And I think I would have got into DRS.

“It was more when there was a gap, when I was most under pressure from George, that’s when he helped me out. I guess it helped me keep him from not getting under pressure, from not getting attacked, because I’m sure if I’d been overtaken, Carlos would have been under more pressure too. They drove an amazing race, both George and Lewis (Hamilton), and of course Carlos drove a great race to not have any mistakes, not have any lockups and finish where we did.”