Singapore Grand Prix 2023 – Team Talk

It was a fantastic race and as we make our way over to Japan, lets see what the teams (and drivers) had to say after the Singapore Grand Prix 2023 – and doesn’t Carlos Sainz look like he’s having fun! 😀

Ferrari – Team Talk Singapore Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz, 1st:“It has been an incredible weekend right from the start. The team deserves this win for the enormous work they have done both here and in Maranello and I’m proud to dedicate it to all of them and the tifosi.

“We executed the weekend perfectly on my side and I think we managed the final thrilling part to perfection, giving Lando (Norris) DRS and controlling the pace all race long.”

“Of course, pitting earlier meant we had to make our tyres last for a longer stint and the final laps were on the limit, but I’m extremely happy we made it work.”

“Tonight we celebrate, but from tomorrow we’ll start preparing Suzuka. Let’s keep it up.”

Charles Leclerc, 4th: “I’m really happy for the team. So much work has been done in order to understand the car better in the past few weeks and today it paid off.”

“Congratulations to Carlos who did a really good job all weekend.”

“Our plan was for me to start on Softs and position myself ahead of George (Russell), which was the right choice and worked out well.”

“Unfortunately, we lost some positions due to traffic during the pit stop under the Safety Car – still, our race execution was good today so I’m happy!”

“It’s great to see that we’ve made a step forward in terms of performance overall and hopefully we can confirm it next week in Japan.”

Mercedes – Team Talk Singapore Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton, 3rd: “We rolled the dice this weekend and went with an offset tyre strategy. I felt like the race was a two-stop today and the team did an amazing job to get us back up there.”

“Having to give back the two positions from the first corner was a shame, but I kept my head down and kept pushing.”

“Overall this weekend, I haven’t felt fully comfortable with the car. Today it was in a better place though.”

“If I had had that same feeling yesterday, I think I could have been fighting for the front-row.”

“That may have changed my race today, but I’m still pleased to get on the podium.”

“It was extremely unfortunate what happened to George. We were pushing so hard to catch the guys ahead and our tyres were so hot.”

“He’s been phenomenal all weekend and I know he will bounce back. We’re now looking forward to Japan so let’s see what we can do there.”

George Russell, DNF: “I am lost for words. I think we were half a car’s length away from winning the race today.”

“If I was able to pass Lando (Norris), I am sure I would have been able to overtake Carlos (Sainz).”

“Unfortunately I missed that opportunity. I made a mistake by one or two centimetres on that last lap, and I clipped the wall.”

“It’s a mistake that has overshadowed my whole weekend. Up to that point, it had been a fantastic race weekend.”

“The car felt great, and the team had done an incredible job. Our strategy was superb, and we were bold and aggressive. It was exciting out there and it’s heart-breaking to be standing here with zero points.”

“Nevertheless, there are positives to take away. I will likely have a bad night tonight and even tomorrow morning. But I will put this behind me and come back stronger next weekend in Japan.”

Red Bull Racing – Team Talk

Max Verstappen, 5th: “I think we did the best we could today.”

“We had good pace and we were just unfortunate with the timing of the safety car, if it weren’t for that, I really think that we would have been in a good place to fight up front.”

“With the strategy today it was really important to not make any mistakes. In the end I was able to have some fun catching up on the mediums. For now, the target is to win next weekend in Japan.”

“Everything needs to be perfect to win every race in a season, I knew this day would come and it’s absolutely fine.”

“Everyone sees how dominant we can be and they don’t realise how difficult it really is, we need to get a lot of things right.”

Sergio Perez, 8th: “It was not a great day for us, it was as tough as we expected it to be, we struggled all race and nothing really worked.”

“The safety cars came at the wrong time and it was similar with the VSCs, it was just not our day. In the end we were on a different strategy to everyone else and that was the best we could do.”

“I think we have plenty of things to investigate after this weekend and a lot to understand as a Team.”

“I think the issues were circuit related and we should be stronger next weekend, let’s move on and look forward to Japan.”

McLaren – Team Talk

Lando Norris, 2nd: “Incredible. Carlos, Charles, Lewis, George, and I really pushed each other hard all evening.”

“The end of the race was very stressful, but it paid off.”

“We knew it was going to be tough as soon as Mercedes boxed, especially with only a couple of cars for them to overtake – but we held them off, did what we needed to do and we’re on the podium with P2, so I’m super-happy this evening.”

“The team is amazing, and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work in giving me this car.”

“It was good to see Oscar fighting his way through to P7, cementing the points for the team also.”

“The car looked great in the Stealth Mode livery and it’s just a great result for the team tonight.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do in Japan.”

Oscar Piastri, 7th: “P7. Not a bad night’s work!”

“Obviously, our pace was decent, and I feel that I took advantage of the stuff going on around me after a good first lap.”

“All-in-all, pretty happy with that. I don’t think there was too much left on the table there.”

“It’s great to see Lando on the podium and for the team to be rewarded for all their hard work.”

“I’m looking forward to the upgrades next week and hopefully we can have some more fun.”

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!”

Aston Martin – Team Talk Singapore Grand Prix

At Aston Martin, we saw only one driver racing for the team – Fernando Alonso and this was due to Lance Stroll sitting out the race following on from his accident in Q1.

Fernando Alonso, 15th: “It was an extremely tough evening: everything that could go wrong did go wrong for us.”

“It’s better that it happened all in one hit – and let’s not forget it’s actually our first non-scoring race of the entire season.”

“We came here with pretty high hopes, but Singapore is quite a unique event – race pace is really dictated by the temperature of the tyres – and maybe we went a little bit too hard.”

“There are lot of things we need to investigate from this weekend – there’s plenty to take away and improve.”

“We need to get better. Let’s just forget about this weekend and focus on the next one in Suzuka.”

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.”

The Formula 1 Girl 🙂

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