Christian Horner: "Firstly, congratulations to Ferrari. Carlos drove a great race and managed to hold on for the win. It certainly has been an exciting race today, but for us, we were very unlucky. The safety car could not have come at a worse time and that killed any chance for us to get into contention. It was a shame, but there are also a lot of positives. Max's pace at the end and then with Checo coming back through also made for a very strong performance. We knew that the run would come to an end at some point and we reflect on the job well done by the Team. 15 wins in a row is an incredible feat. 10 wins for Max is something that is equally remarkable. We carry a lot of momentum heading into Japan and look forward to getting out and going again."
Carlos Sainz and Scuderia Ferrari won the Singapore Grand Prix on the Marina Bay street circuit.
The Spaniard dominated the weekend from the very beginning, but today's race was a very tense marathon, a 62 lap chess game that Carlos managed to perfection, once again proving that apart from being very quick, he also has a great tactical brain. This was Sainz's second Formula 1 win, following on from the one at Silverstone last year, while for the Scuderia it's number 243. Completing a great day for the team was a fourth place for Charles Leclerc, who only lost the second place he had grabbed with a demon start off the line because of traffic in pit lane when he made his one and only stop. This is the first win for the team with Fred Vasseur at the helm and it consolidates the Scuderia's third place in the Constructors' standings now just 24 points behind second placed Mercedes.
The race. Carlos got away perfectly from pole on Medium tyres, shadowed by his team-mate, the only driver on the grid to have fitted the Soft compound, which helped him get the jump on George Russell. From then on, Carlos ran at a comfortable pace with the intention of keeping the pack bunched up so that other teams could not make a two stop strategy work. When Logan Sargeant crashed on lap 20, the Safety Car came out and both drivers therefore pitted for their only stop, taking on Hard tyres. Leclerc was slightly delayed getting out because Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes was arriving at just that moment and that meant Charles lost position to Russell and Norris. At the restart, Charles attacked the McLaren driver but that left him open to a pass from Hamilton. On lap 44, the Mercedes duo made a second stop under a Virtual Safety Car, fitting new Medium tyres, going on the attack for the final part of the race.
Thrilling finale. Russell and Hamilton had great pace, catching and passing Charles and, with five laps to go, they set about pursuing Carlos and Norris. Carlos showed great tactical nous, allowing Norris to get close enough to use DRS, thus protecting him from Russell's attacks all the way to the chequered flag, although the Mercedes driver actually crashed on the last lap, leaving Hamilton to come home third and Charles to pick up the 12 points for fourth.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: I am proud of what the team has achieved this weekend with everyone doing a really great job. We know we've been making progress and here in Singapore we managed to get everything out of the SF-23, thanks in part to the great work done in Maranello. We proved to be competitive in qualifying and today that was also the case in the race. Carlos produced a magisterial performance in the race, always in control of the situation, especially in the final laps when he intelligently ensured Norris had DRS to defend against Russell.
But for traffic in the pit lane, Charles would probably have also finished on the podium. We are pleased to be the first team to have ended Red Bull's winning streak and are happy to have picked up these points which keep us in the fight for second place in the Constructors' championship. Now we move on to Suzuka, a very different sort of track, where we will do our utmost to continue this positive trend.
John Elkann, Ferrari Chairman: We can all be very happy with today's win. Congratulations to the whole Ferrari team, at the track and back in Maranello starting with Carlos who was so very quick over the course of the whole weekend.
After starting second and fifth respectively, George dropped a position to the fast-starting Ferrari of Leclerc with Lewis holding his grid spot after short-cutting turn two, then handing back places to George and Norris.
A controlled pace was set at the front as tyre management became a key focus to make the necessary first stint length. That rhythm was broken by a Safety Car deployed on lap 20.
A double-stack pit stop saw George emerge in a net P2 with Lewis holding his net P5. Soon after the restart, he made short work of Leclerc and joined a gaggle of four cars including George, leader Carlos Sainz, and Lando Norris.
A Virtual Safety Car on lap 43 gave the opportunity for a bold strategy call; both cars boxed for the medium tyre with the aim of clawing back the time lost to fight for victory in the closing stages.
It almost proved the winning strategy as both George and Lewis charged onto the back of the top-two; with three laps to go, George came close to passing the McLaren but ultimately couldn't get the move done.
Pushing hard on the final lap, George clipped the wall and his race ended in retirement with Lewis moving up to the final podium spot in P3.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: Lewis had a brilliant race, and he did a super job to get on the podium. It was of course a shame for George at the end. It was one very small error after a strong weekend but that's racing - he got it 99.99% right today. It was clear that it was going to be difficult to win the race if we followed everyone else's strategy. We were aggressive and took the opportunity to put on the Medium tyre under the Virtual Safety Car. The data was robust, and we went for it. At the end, to get on the podium was great and we were very close to making it so much more than that. Overall, it feels that we are continuing to make progress with the W14. We've had a really quick car all weekend, so let's see how we go in Suzuka. Bring it on.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We had fun racing today. There were some brave decisions taken by the strategy team and the car was working well. It was a good reminder for the entire team of how enjoyable it is to be fighting at the front of a race. George couldn't have got to the garage sooner to apologise for the mistake; it's a shame not to take those points but we're a team and we'll always work through the highs and lows together. What we can say is that our fight with Ferrari for second in the championship is going to get exciting now. We've got a bit of margin on points but ultimately, it's going to come down to who's got the best car over the next seven races. This weekend will give the whole team even more motivation and energy to get back to fighting at the front week in, week out. We will take a number of positives from here as we go into Japan.
BWT Alpine F1 Team returned to the points in the Singapore Grand Prix as Pierre Gasly jumped from twelfth on the grid to sixth at the chequered flag in an entertaining Sunday night race at Marina Bay. Esteban Ocon retired from the race while holding sixth place on lap 43 with a suspected gearbox issue.
In a race dominated by tyre management and careful strategy, both drivers made strong starts to the 62-lap race, Esteban up one place to seventh on the opening lap and Pierre into eleventh.
From there, Esteban set his sights on chasing down Fernando Alonso with Pierre looking to pass the Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. A Safety Car on lap 20 led to both cars double stacking - changing from Mediums to Hards - executed with slick efficiency from the pit crew. Esteban was able to hold ninth place while Pierre jumped Hulkenberg in the pit-stop.
From there an exciting battle ensued as a handful of cars looked to catch the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. Esteban made a superb move on Alonso at Turn 11 and later Perez, making his way up to sixth on the road. Pierre too passed Perez with the two Alpines holding sixth and eighth, respectively.
Unfortunately, Esteban stopped at Turn 2 on lap 43 with a suspected gearbox issue, which the team will investigate.
Pierre held onto sixth place but remained wary of the fast-charging Verstappen on fresher Medium rubber. He relinquished that spot to the Dutchman five laps from the end but was able to regain sixth place after George Russell's off on the last lap, holding position to the line to claim a well earned eight points.
Bruno Famin, Interim Team Principal: "The team leaves the Singapore Grand Prix weekend with eighth points scored, which constitutes an improvement after the last race. Starting from the middle of the grid, it was important for the team to remain calm and make the right calls. I am very happy with the performance from both drivers. Credit to Esteban and Pierre for how they managed the race in an intense tactical battle and tricky tyre management strategy and also to the team for executing the double-stack pit-stop very well. Pierre and Esteban did a good job gaining places during the race, especially Pierre from twelfth to sixth with a well-managed one-stop strategy, including some clean and decisive overtakes from both drivers. Unfortunately, a suspected issue with Esteban's gearbox prevented both cars finishing in the points. As a team, it has been one more weekend full of learnings, of which we can take forwards for the remainder of the season. On that front, we are positive as we will fly straight to Japan next week aiming to continue to build up on the momentum from this weekend."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "Tonight, we are celebrating a very good result for the team here in Singapore. Our aim for Oscar was to get him into the points, he did an excellent job, rising from P17 to P7. Our decision to leave Lando out at the VSC paid off with P2. It worked out well, but it was marginal and could have easily gone the other way, the end of the race was very tense! We had great pit-stops today, good strategy and everyone on the race team has worked very hard all weekend in tough conditions - but I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone at the factory for getting this upgrade onto Lando's car and making this possible. We're heading to Suzuka now, where we look forward to another good race!"
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake raced fiercely under the Marina Bay lights, but the increased turn of pace in Sunday's showdown just wasn't enough to bring home the points. Zhou Guanyu performed a good comeback from a pit-lane start, racing into the points thanks to an aggressive strategy by the team; in the end, however, he had to settle for 12th place, just outside the top ten. Team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, also raced in the points-scoring positions around the halfway mark, only to see his race ended by a technical issue before the closing stages.
The team takes stock of this event, before heading to Japan for next week's race in Suzuka: with the new upgrade package reaching maturity, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake will be hoping for a step forward in performance.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "It was a difficult race at the end of a challenging weekend, and we didn't reach our target in the end. We chose to make some extensive changes on Zhou's car to explore more setup options, and it worked, bringing more performance for the race. Zhou's performance was solid, he was in contention for the points but the late VSC jeopardised his race. Valtteri had a more difficult race: the decision to start on hard tyres paid dividends when the Safety came out, and he climbed to P10, but in the end we did not have enough pace to keep the position against cars on fresh tyres. His race was brought to an end by a technical issue and we'll need to get to the bottom of it to understand what happened. We now have a few days to prepare for Suzuka: racing again is good, as we get a chance to fully focus on our performance again, on a track that should suit our car, and our new upgrades, better. There's no frustration in the team, just determination to get back to scoring."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "It has been a really tough couple of days for the team in Singapore. We only raced one car today and we look forward to seeing Lance back with us in Japan. Fernando's race came undone during the Virtual Safety Car when the rear jack did not engage properly during the pitstop. We need to analyse exactly what happened. Even without this issue, scoring points would have been difficult today. We will move on and learn from these difficult days. There is a lot of work ahead of us: we must understand where we can find more performance. There is still a long way to go this season - seven more races with plenty of opportunities and points available. A final word of recognition to the crews here in Singapore, especially the mechanics, who worked long hours in challenging conditions all week. Thank you to everyone."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team returned to the points at Formula 1's Singapore Grand Prix, Round 16 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Kevin Magnussen started from sixth on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and remained inside the top-10 during the opening stages of the race. Magnussen pitted on lap 20 for White hard tires, following a Safety Car period triggered by Logan Sargeant's accident, and re-emerged still inside the points-paying places. However, the Dane went wide with a brake issue at turn 7 while defending from Pierre Gasly and relinquished several positions, before a Virtual Safety Car period - caused when Esteban Ocon stopped on track - offered an opportunity. Magnussen pitted for a second time on lap 44, taking on Red soft tires, climbing to 11th then back into the top-10 after George Russell crashed out of the race in the final stages to earn a welcomed point in tenth place for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.
Nico Hulkenberg started from ninth place, also on medium tires, and likewise remained in contention for points through the opening stint. Hulkenberg mirrored Magnussen in stopping behind the Safety Car but lost positions to rivals due to the effect of the double stack on pit-lane and re-emerged in 15th. The German clawed his way back into the top-10 through the second stint of the race but was unable to hold on against rivals on fresher tires - Hulkenberg eventually classifying 13th overall.
Up front Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz claimed his first victory of the season - having led from pole, ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "After qualifying P6 and P9 yesterday, we brought a point home which, at the moment for us, is worth a lot and I think it's the best we can do with what we've got. I think everybody worked hard and the point is well deserved. Obviously, we got a little bit lucky in the end when Russell hit the wall, but the guys were hanging in there to bring the cars back in the best position they could, and it worked out. Off to Japan!"
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "As usual, Singapore was not a straightforward race, and we were down to one car after the first lap. Yuki having to retire with damage after contact through no fault of his own was disappointing as he had shown a very strong pace in the Friday long runs. The race soon settled down, and Liam ran in a train of cars behind the Haas, waiting for the pit window to open. When the Safety Car came, we, like the majority, boxed for a set of hard compound tyres. However, although we jumped Hulkenburg, we lost out to Piastri and ended up in the same train, moving into the point-scoring positions when the cars that stayed out finally pitted. From that point onwards, Liam did a fantastic job of managing his tyres, making moves where possible and returning consistent lap times. He was defending against several cars and performed some strong moves to keep in the points and bring the car home for very well-deserved first F1 points. Everyone in Faenza and Bicester has been working flat out to deliver this update, and tonight's points-scoring result is a good reward for the big efforts made by the factory, trackside and drivers. It's been a very busy weekend, but we're all looking forward to Japan and taking the next step in extracting performance from this update and the aero parts which will follow."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Today was one of our best races of the season and to lose the opportunity to score good points with just a few laps to go is very disappointing for the whole team. Alex drove exceptionally well in a very tactical race and when the opportunity arose to go on the offensive using our extra set of race tyres, he executed it perfectly on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult. The team here in Singapore and in Grove worked brilliantly to give him the chance and he took it expertly.
Logan was doing well and matching Alex's performance despite running the older specification front wing. A small front lock-up towards the end of the first stint meant that he understeered; unfortunately, at this kind of track, the walls are so close and consequently, a tiny error has big consequences. With a new front wing and a new set of tyres, Logan then had a very lonely 2nd stint before the VSC gave him the chance to be more aggressive. However, the earlier damage meant that his car simply wasn't good enough to avoid the high tyre degradation.
Although we lost ground to some of our Championship rivals today, we can take heart from the fact that we fought very hard - and deserved more - with a car that wasn't well suited to this track. We now head straight to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix and we can carry the momentum and learning from this weekend into one of the best events of the year.
Carlos Sainz has won the Singapore Grand Prix. It was the Spaniard's second career victory, coming at the end of what was a far more exciting race than recent editions at this track, with four drivers all seemingly in the hunt for victory from start to finish. Also on the podium were second placed Lando Norris for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton, third for Mercedes. This was Ferrari's 243rd win from 1067 Grands Prix entered and its fourth at this track.
It was therefore the first time this season that a Red Bull has not won, putting an end to a 15 race winning streak for the Milton Keynes squad and a 10 win run for Max Verstappen.
Most drivers (13 of the 19) chose to start on the Medium compound, with the remaining six divided equally between the Soft and Hard. However, the Soft proved to be a tactically sound choice for Zhou in the Alfa Romeo, as the Chinese driver, starting from pit lane, pitted immediately to then try and run the entire race on the Hard. The Safety Car came out on lap 20, triggering a rush for pit lane, with all the drivers who had started on the Medium coming in to switch to the Hard, while those who had started on the latter staying out on track before making their only pit stop at around two thirds race distance. Shortly after, on lap 44, another VSC produced another opportunity to mix things up. That is what the Mercedes pair did along with the Williams, coming in for Medium tyres, while Alonso and Magnussen pitted for Softs. In the closing stages of the race the C4 proved to be very quick for both Hamilton and Russell, who rapidly closed on the leaders (Sainz and Norris) and for Verstappen and Perez who used the extra pace to come from the back to finish in the points.
Mario Isola: "Today's Singapore Grand Prix was a great advert for Formula 1. I think that all the spectators, those at the track and those in front of their screens, must have been holding their breath right to the very end, seeing four drivers fighting for the honour of being the first to put an end to Red Bull's dominance this season. Really well done to all four, but also to others in this race, not just the drivers, but those on the pit wall too, because they all helped to put on a great show with on-track duels and very intense tactical battles.
"On the tyre side, I think the word that best describes the day is management. For almost the entire race, we saw drivers and teams managing their pace in order to be in the best possible shape, not just to achieve the goals they had set themselves, but also to be ready to exploit any opportunity that might come along later. One example of this Is Leclerc's decision to start on the Soft to try and immediately pass Russell in order to build a gap between the Mercedes and Sainz, out in the lead. Or with Mercedes, who had an additional set of new Medium tyres available for both drivers and made the most of the VSC to change strategy and therefore go on the attack right to the very end, challenging Sainz for the win.
"From a technical point of view, the three compounds performed as expected in terms of degradation. The one-stop proved to be the quickest strategy, with the two-stop only working when the race was neutralised. The Hard and the Medium saw the most use, which was also what was expected, but the Soft, which is generally considered mainly as a qualifying compound, also showed it had a part to play in the first stint."
