Singapore: F1 Qualifications Seen from the Pits

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – Pole

Nico Rosberg – 2nd

Toto Wolff, Executive Director: This qualifying session was superb and it’s great publicity for Formula 1. From our point of view, it’s clear that we haven’t regained the advantage here that we had in previous weekends. But it’s a unique circuit, and producing a car that can be fast on every round of the calendar is a great achievement, so we must be very happy with the front row.

Our performance this weekend hasn’t been completely consistent, and that’s what we will need tomorrow night. But the necessities of the race are different from those over a single lap. I am optimistic that we are capable of performing well in terms of energy management, fuel, and brakes during the race. So, a good job today but still a lot to do tomorrow.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – 3rd

Sebastian Vettel – 4th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « Being on the second row with both of our drivers in a very tight qualifying session was a great performance for the team. It was very close at the end, and we were the closest to Mercedes in qualifying all year. Let’s hope it will be the same in tomorrow’s race and that we can put pressure on them. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 5th

Kimi Räikkönen – 7th

Pat Fry, Technical Director (chassis): This was undoubtedly one of the tightest qualifying sessions of the season, with the top 6 separated by just three tenths. On this track, a good setup and a high level of aerodynamic downforce make a difference, and you can gain or lose a lot of time in every corner. As is the case with all street circuits, the drivers’ skills become paramount. I wish I could comment on a better result because Kimi and Fernando didn’t make any mistakes. Kimi was comfortable in the car all weekend, and we are sorry that he had a software issue on his last run in Q3 because he could have certainly achieved a better result. This incident confirms how important reliability is, especially at this point in the season.

Fernando showed what he could do on this track and it’s always a pleasure to see him at work. Like Kimi, he improved in every session, maximizing his package. In free practice, we saw a significant performance difference between the two Pirelli compounds, and I’m sure this will make the race particularly exciting. At this stage of the season, reliability plays a key role, and up to Singapore, a safety car appearance is almost guaranteed. Therefore, we must keep an eye on all the variables at play while trying to bring back as many points as possible for the team.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Williams

Felipe Massa – 6th

Valtteri Bottas – 8th

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance: Ultimately, we must be happy with our performance. We are only three-tenths off the poleman and close to our nearest rivals in the championship, even though this track doesn’t particularly suit our car. That’s what we were aiming for before we got here. So, we’ve succeeded in the first part of our job. We showed good pace on the long runs on Friday. Therefore, we are in a good position to score many points at the end of the race.

– Read the drivers’ statements

McLaren

Kevin Magnussen – 9th

Jenson Button – 11th

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: Clearly, there is nothing to boast about being 9th and 11th, and we are far from satisfied. However, Kevin’s lap in Q3 was only 0.569s from Lewis’s pole, and even though it’s not what we came to Singapore for, it shows that we are continuing to improve our car in terms of performance compared to the fastest cars.

Unfortunately, Jenson went wide at the hairpin in what would have been a good lap in Q2, losing two tenths in the maneuver, and consequently failing to make it into Q3 by the smallest of margins. However, we all know he’s a determined driver and that he’ll be aiming for the points tomorrow, mark my words.

Kevin extracted absolutely everything from his car today, and if the times hadn’t been unusually close, he would have achieved a better result than this ninth place on the grid that his efforts eventually earned him. But as usual, he will have a fast and energetic race to gain positions and achieve the best possible result.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat – 10th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 12th

James Key, Technical Director: « Our objective was to have both cars in Q3. It’s never easy here, it’s a complicated circuit where you have to be at 100% all the time. Unfortunately, JEV just missed his second sector in Q2 and came very close to Q3. It’s a shame because he deserved it.

Daniil succeeded in his first session and made it to Q3; in the second sector, once again, it was a bit tricky for him. Overall, it’s a bit disappointing not to have both cars in Q3, but the race is tomorrow, and I’m convinced we can still fight for points.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 13th

Sergio Pérez – 15th

Vijay Mallya, Team Owner: « We expected to be a bit higher up on the grid today. Our starting positions for tomorrow’s race mean we will have to work a little harder to score the points we need. However, I am confident in our race pace, which should enable us to be competitive. Singapore usually offers the chance to explore different strategies and we enjoy racing in the heat. We must maximize the opportunities that will come our way. Our goal is to get both cars into the points. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Sauber

Esteban Gutierrez – 14th

Adrian Sutil – 17th

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: Throughout the weekend, we had problems with energy management, which didn’t help us at all. However, Esteban was able to consistently improve and delivered a great performance. He is in a good position for the race. Adrian didn’t use the full power of the hybrid block and was therefore handicapped. The past has shown us that anything can happen in a race. Our goal is to stay in touch with those ahead of us and be ready to seize any opportunity.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 16th

Pastor Maldonado – 18th

Alan Permane, Track Operations Director: The E22 seemed to perform better with these high-downforce corners here in Singapore, and both drivers had the potential to qualify higher on the grid than we have seen this season. Unfortunately, both encountered a similar issue related to the turbo wastegate, which essentially means they lacked power when they needed it. So far this season, we have shown a more consistent race pace compared to our qualifying performances. Therefore, we are still hopeful of achieving two good results tomorrow evening, although the frustration of our distant grid positions is currently predominant.

Translate: – Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 19th

Max Chilton – 21st

John Booth, Team Principal: « Overall, a good qualifying, especially on Jules’ side with a good result against our closest competitors. The day wasn’t without issues, with some problems on Max’s car at the start of his qualifying lap which certainly disrupted his rhythm. Unfortunately, with his car, we are between the two Caterhams. In FP3 and pretty much all weekend so far, the car seems better here than at Monza and, of course, we would have preferred to have both cars together on the grid. As always here, there’s potential for this race to be chaotic. The goal with both of our cars is to be ahead of our competitors in the championship and then capitalize on the opportunities that arise. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Caterham

Kamui Kobayashi – 20th

Marcus Ericsson – 22nd

Cedrik Staudohar, Track Support Manager for Renault Sport F1: « Kamui had a session that went as planned but in the end, we didn’t have the speed to fight with Bianchi. Unfortunately, for Marcus, he had no telemetry during the third practice session. The team had to change the chassis wiring between the two sessions. The mechanics did a great job to allow him to do a lap in Q1 but obviously, this compromised performance. We know that Singapore is a long and often unpredictable race. Our race pace is better. So we will see what happens. »

– Read the pilots’ statements