Infiniti Red Bull Racing-Renault secured a double podium in today’s Singapore Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in second position, just one second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo at the most physically and mechanically demanding race of the year.
The duo held off Fernando Alonso at the end to score the team’s second double podium of the year.
Jean-Eric Vergne had a storming end to the race to finish sixth on the road for Scuderia Toro Rosso and put three Renault-powered cars into the top ten. Lotus F1 Team had its strongest race for some time, with Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean fighting for position with the Saubers, Toro Rossos and McLarens at times. The duo finished 12th and 13th respectively.
Daniil Kvyat finished 14th ahead of Caterham F1 Team’s Marcus Ericsson, who out-raced both Marussias on his Singapore GP debut.
Key race points:
— Sebastian Vettel moved into second at the start, and maintained position over Alonso and Ricciardo throughout the pit stops and the safety car period. The reigning world champion elected not to change tyres after the safety car was withdrawn and withstood intense pressure from both drivers to secure second position, his fifth consecutive visit to the Singapore GP podium.
— Daniel Ricciardo lost one place to Fernando Alonso at the start, but regained it after the Spaniard pitted under the safety car. He finished sandwiched between Vettel and Alonso in one of the closest finishes so far this year.
— Jean-Eric Vergne steadily rose through the field but it was the final 10 laps that stood out for the Frenchman. Using new tyres, he went from 12th to sixth, taking Grosjean, Maldonado, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and then Bottas. Daniil Kvyat finished in 14th.
— Caterham F1 Team’s Kamui Kobayashi did not start the race after an ERS problem hit on the parade lap.
Rémi Taffin, Head of Track Operations
A great result at the most physically and mechanically demanding event of the year for Red Bull and Renault. Two drivers on the podium is really the best we could have hoped for. This weekend we have faced a number of issues but we have solved each one methodically to get both cars to the finish, and in a strong position.
An equally good job from the guys at Toro Rosso, who managed the energy and fuel extremely well to give JEV enough at the end to secure sixth on the road. Likewise, Lotus had a very strong race that demonstrated the performance potential of the chassis-engine package a lot more clearly. We hope to build on this in Suzuka and outrace the teams we were racing today.
One of the few negative points was Kamui’s failure on the parade lap. Unfortunately his car developed an ERS problem and he had to pull off, which is a shame as Marcus demonstrated a strong relative pace and was able to out-race both Marussias today.
Across the board, therefore, each engine-chassis team has worked together to provide the most competitive package and overcome most small problems we faced. We can be relatively satisfied with the results and can look forward with optimism to Suzuka.