Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Report
This was meant to go live earlier however sometimes technical gremlins tend to get in the way! Today, we had a qualifying session which had one big surprise – Sebastian Vettel suffering with yet another issue and not getting through to Q2.
Red Bull picked up the pace and split the two Mercedes drivers up – Rosberg on pole and Hamilton in third however he lost a chunk of time due to a little mistake on Turn 1.
We’re all looking forward to the race tomorrow – Singapore is always unpredictable and it’s nearly a guarantee that there will be a safety car at some point during the race.
Here’s the Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Report with reaction from teams and drivers.
Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Report – Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo
Position 2 – 1:43.115
“I’m pleased with front row, we set ourselves up well and the lap was clean but obviously Nico created a big gap.”
‘I would have like for him to not be that far ahead and even with a perfect lap, I don’t think we could have caught up.”
“I did what I had to do and the last sector was good, I kept the tyres in good condition and that was important.”
“There are normally incidents and safety cars in the race so it won’t be straightforward however I feel good and ready to go – I’m excited.”
Max Verstappen
Position 4 – 1:43.328
“Qualifying wasn’t fantastic and I’m disappointed with my starting position. The car felt good throughout the weekend and during the practice sessions.”
“I was struggling throughout the whole session to warm up the front tyres and the balance wasn’t quite right – there was a lot of front wheel locking so the lap just didn’t come together which is shame.”
“We’ll see how it’s going to work out during the race and hopefully we can improve position.”
Christian Horner – Team Principal
“A fantastic performance by both our drivers today, to be starting from the front and second row of the grid is great.”
“Tremendous work from Daniel, leaving it right to the last minute to get ahead of Kimi’s Ferrari. We have a different strategy compered to the other cars around us so it should be an interesting Grand Prix.”
Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying report – Sauber F1
Marcus Ericsson
Position 16 – 1:46.427
“It’s positive that I reached Q2 today, overall this was quite a difficult weekend and I haven’t been able to get a good feeling of the car during the practice sessions.”
“It makes it nicer that we managed to make it into the second qualifying session and it’s a good effort I think, we need to keep pushing and closing the gap to the midfield.”
Felipe Nasr
Position 17 – 1:47.293
“It was a disappointing qualifying session for me, I was surprised by the drop of performance through qualifying as I felt comfortable in the car during the practice sessions.”
“In qualifying I struggled with the rear grip – anything can happen here in Singapore so we keep fighting.”
Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Report – Sahara Force India
Nico Hulkenberg
Position 8 – 1:44.479
“I’m not entirely happy with eighth place, I believe that there was more speed in the car – maybe about two or three tenths.”
“It was a messy session and we couldn’t extract the maximum from it, we felt that Q3 was a realistic target and we faced some strong competition especially from the Torro Rosso’s.”
“Considering all the circumstances, eighth place could be thought as a reasonable result, I think we are in good shape for the race and the long run performance from yesterday looked solid so I think we’ve done the homework we need for the race.”
Sergio Perez
Position 10* – 1:44.582
“It was a very tricky session for me, pretty much like the rest of the weekend so far so I’m not too happy.”
“We had a few technical issues with the car yesterday and we had to make some compromises with the set-up today and to get a better feeling with the car.”
“The final session was very tight, I’m disappointed to have received the grid penalty because I did significantly lift off for the yellow flags during Q2.”
“It’s one of those races where just getting to the end gives you a chance of points, anything can happen in Singapore and we need to make the most of every opportunity.”
- Sergio Perez has been given a grid penalty and will be starting the race from P16.
Robert Fernley – Deputy Team Principal
“Even though we saw both our cars through to Q3 there was a sense that we didn’t quite maximise our full potential this evening.”
“Both drivers found it difficult to find rhythm and there were various issues which disrupted the flow of qualifying on both sides of the garage.”
“Looking ahead to the race, I think there will be plenty of opportunities to show our competitive race pace and hopefully we can collect some valuable points.”
Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Report – McLaren
Fernando Alonso
Position 9 – 1:44.553
“On the face of it, I’m pleased. Getting into Q3 was our first objective but our next is to be competitive in the race. Nonetheless, our pace still wasn’t great today and we struggled a little, in fact – good pace hasn’t come too easily to us this weekend.”
“Hopefully we can improve for tomorrow and the race strategy is key. I hope we can turn things around for us, especially if we get a good start. Attack into the first corner and come out in a good position at the end of lap one.”
Jenson Button
Position 13 – 1:45.144
“Up until qualifying our race weekend had been really tough but we made some changes to the car and it felt really, really good this evening.”
“it too a few set-ups and tweaks but I found my confidence and I was able to get the best out of the car in qualifying.”
“On my final run in Q2, I went a touch wide at the exit of turn 14 and just tapped the wall on the exit – the impact broke the left-rear wheel and gave me a puncture – it was my fault.”
“There’ll probably be some safety car periods and a bit of action so anything can happen.”
Eric Boullier – McLaren Racing Director
“bearing in mind the problematic day we had yesterday, we recovered well today. I was to say ‘bravo’ to our engineers for the achievement in which they accomplished cal my and without drama overnight and earlier today too.”
“Tomorrow, both our drivers will enjoy the slight advantage of starting the race from the clean side of the grid and in a long and difficult race they’ll surely bring out their great experience to bear the task of doing their best to score championship points.”
Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Report – Mercedes
Nico Rosberg
Position 1 – 1:42.584
“That was a fantastic qualifying for me – especially on my 200th Grand Prix weekend.”
“I think this lap is in my top three of all time, I felt totally at ease with the car which is really rare and I was able to push a lot and couldn’t even top that first lap on my second run.”
“This will be a tough battle but I’m confident that we chose the right strategy. We’ve learned a lot from last year and we’ve closed the gap – that’s satisfying.”
Lewis Hamilton
Position 3 – 1:43.299
“It’s not been my weekend so far, I’ve not had many good laps out there and it’s not for a particular reason, I just haven’t been able to string it together.”
“People have pointed out turn seven as the problem – it’s one of the heaviest on brake tracks and it’s bumpy. I had an issue with the suspension not working properly too, this was in practice, which affected my braking but we fixed that and qualifying wasn’t a problem.”
“Nico did a great job and showed the potential of the car today, I’ve not really looked at the long-runs but I don’t think I’ll be in a bad position – I’ll find that out tomorrow!”
Toto Wolff – Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“Before the weekend, if you had offered us P1 and P3 on the grid I think we would have been very happy to take that result with last years performance in mind.”
“A really amazing lap from Nico – probably even quicker than we though was possible in our predictions. Credit to him where it’s due and as for Lewis, he hasn’t been totally comfortable with the car this weekend and it’s always a case of finding that sweet spot between the car and the driver.”
“All our focus is on the race tomorrow”
Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Report – Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen
Position 5 – 1:43.540
“Today we got more or less what we could from our car, obviously a bit disappointing given where we finished but this is a tricky place and a tricky track.”
“Fifth position is not ideal, I made some mistakes, I went wide in turn 1 and got sideways – there’s no issues with the car and we are just lacking overall grip and in Singapore, that makes a big difference.”
“Tomorrow we have to make a good start and then go from there.”
Sebastian Vettel
Position 22 – 1:49.116
“Already in the first lap and going into turn one, something just happened and then in turn two and through turn five, I could feel that the car was not the same.”
“We don’t really know what happened, initially I thought it was the front but then it felt like the rear bar had broken. I hadn’t felt anything in P3.”
“For tomorrow, we have a long race in front of us and with a lot potential safety cars – at least we have some tyres and even if it’s not the ideal situation, we can still have a good race.”
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xx