Vettel wins again, Webber sidelined by fire
Sebastian Vettel dominated at Singapore and added 25 points to his tally to increase his championship advantage. His Red Bull Racing team mate meanwhile saw his car catch fire in the final lap, requiring him to abandon the race early.
Sebastian Vettel, 1st: “It’s just been a fantastic weekend. The start was close, but then we had strong race pace, especially when the safety car came in, and we pushed very hard to try to build up a gap. You never know what’s coming up and what can happen. The last ten laps seemed to go on forever inside the car. I kept my concentration by reminding myself how easily you can make a mistake around here, the walls are close and if you don’t pay enough attention it can go wrong pretty quickly. I focused on hitting the brakes correctly and on saving the tyres. We didn’t expect to be that strong, but it’s a team effort. Everyone is pushing hard and I think the secret, if there is one, is that we love what we do and we’re so passionate. The conditions aren’t great here with the heat, but the team always pushes hard and I think that’s what makes the difference. I’d like to say to everyone working for team that it’s a privilege for me to be driving the car you have built.“
Mark Webber, DNF: “I think I did pretty much everything I could today. We had pace in the car when we needed, we managed the tyres and made a very good undercut on Nico, I was really happy with that lap. Then six laps from the end, the guys were getting worried about the car. So, yeah, it’s annoying but someone’s had a tougher day than me somewhere and that’s the way it goes. I was having to short shift, but then, unlike Monza, we started to lose a lot of power. We were just trying to get home at that point but then on the last lap we caught fire.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A really bittersweet result today. It was a phenomenal performance by Sebastian. It was one of his strongest ever drives, particularly after the safety car came out halfway through the race. It wasn’t the best moment for us and after that, Seb needed to pull out a gap of 27 seconds. He pulled out 30 seconds in 15 laps, at times lapping over two seconds quicker than the rest of the field; it was incredible to watch and it was a thoroughly deserved and really dominant victory today. There was huge frustration for Mark that after two hours of driving really well we could see with 12 laps to go that we began to lose water pressure. The water then effectively ran out at which point it is only a matter of time until the engine overheats, which is what happened on the last lap – it was cruel luck. Nonetheless today is our third successive win and our third consecutive Singapore win, while we’ve extended our lead in the Drivers’ Championship.”
Thierry Salvi, Renault: “Sebastian had fantastic pace today. He controlled the race from the beginning to the end. Mark retired following a water leak about five laps from the end. We tried everything, including short shifting, to get to the end of the race, but we came up just short and the engine overheated within sight of the line. The whole team did a great job this weekend, showing the potential of the Red Bull-Renault chassis/engine package yet again. Apologies to Mark, as he deserved more after such a strong race.”
