Teams’ reactions after the Singapore Grand Prix

Lando Norris took his third victory of the season, clinching a dominant triumph at the tough Singapore Grand Prix. F1Technical’s lead journalist Balazs Szabo delivers the reactions of the teams.

Lando Norris’ dominant win at yesterday’s Singapore Grand Prix marked McLaren’s return to the top step of the Singapore podium, after a break of 15 years since Lewis Hamilton won in 2009.

Having struggled for pace in recent rounds, reigning champion Max Verstappen returned to the podium, securing a second place for Red Bull. The result also meant that the Dutchman is yet to win at the Marina Bay Circuit, while his second place also saw his current winless streak extend to eight Grands Prix.

Third was Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren, thus securing his ninth top-three finish from 40 Grand Prix starts. The Woking-based team has now managed to get at least one driver on the podium for the past 14 races, with a total of 17 podium finishes. Daniel Ricciardo took the race fastest lap for the 17th time in his career, the last one dating back to Monza 2021, at the wheel of a McLaren.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”