Alonso seventh and best of the rest for McLaren in Singapore
Behind the battle for the top, Fernando Alonso impressed on the streets of Marina Bay! Starting ninth, the Spaniard remained fifth for a long time before losing out to Vettel and then Verstappen. Jenson Button was less successful, impacted by the collision at the start. The Briton retired as a precaution on lap 43.
After a rather disappointing Saturday, the double world champion brought some life back to McLaren-Honda. Starting from ninth on the grid, the former Ferrari driver delighted spectators with a lightning start. By taking advantage of the collision involving Verstappen, Hülkenberg, and Sainz, he moved up to 5th place by the end of the first corners! The Spaniard recounted his excellent start to the journalists on site: “I chose to go outside the track’s trajectory, the crash didn’t affect me; I was able to take the sixth position at that moment. Then, I braked very late in the last corner, which allowed me to pass Daniil (Kyvat). Everything went well; sometimes, you also need a bit of luck!”
The rest of his race was more boring, with a quartet largely detached ahead of him and a small margin over the drivers behind. Temporarily overtaken by Pérez and Vettel on an alternate strategy, he regained 5th place after the second stop of both men. While particularly resisting Daniil Kyvat’s Toro Rosso, unfortunately, he couldn’t do much against the comeback of Vettel’s Ferrari and then Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, which passed him on the 55th lap after a strong defense: « The seventh place was the maximum we could hope for today. We were perhaps not truly the fourth team here this weekend, but I want to thank my team for the good strategy. »
With this seventh place, he is truly the “best of the rest”: behind the two Mercedes, the two Red Bulls, and the two Ferraris, which is a very solid performance! But being greedy, the winner of the highly controversial first edition in 2008 even hoped for a miracle ahead of him: “For a moment, I even hoped for a podium place – if something had happened in front of me, which could very well have happened. In fact, it was one of those races where almost nothing happened in front. But beyond that, we did the best today.”
Starting further back on the grid, in twelfth place, Jenson Button’s chances were seriously diminished before the first corner. After a good start on his part as well, he found himself on the path of Nico Hülkenberg’s Force India, struggling after having touched Sainz’s Toro Rosso. Forced to pit to repair multiple damages, he suffered throughout the race from a car lacking downforce. His race was halted as a precaution on the advice of his engineers due to overheated brakes on a demanding track like Singapore: I retired on lap 43, but to be honest, my race was ruined from the first lap! I had a good start, getting alongside Valtteri (Bottas) but I didn’t see Nico’s (Hülkenberg) car out of control in front of me, facing the wrong way. I tried to avoid him on the right but there was no space to pass, so I hit Valtteri’s car with my front wing, seriously damaging it, as well as my floor and part of my braking system.
Unfortunately, the 2009 world champion experienced his 5th retirement of the season. But no regrets for the (almost?) future retiree from the paddocks, victim of the unpredictable nature of a Formula 1 start: « *I pitted to change tires and put on a new front wing, but the car was already too damaged, I lacked downforce for the rest of the race, which made things much more difficult. I had to stop because of my brake temperatures, which were too high. We were concerned about a failure, stopping was the right decision.* »
In this overall positive assessment, Eric Boullier also wanted to praise the thrilling race scenario in its conclusion: « First of all, it was a great day for Formula 1! After two hours of intense racing, the fact that the two leading cars were separated by only half a second is what we love: Formula 1 remains a great discipline when it is as exciting as today. »
The competition director also expressed satisfaction with his team, which distances itself by an additional four points from its close rival in the constructors’ standings, Scuderia Toro Rosso. Now, the Woking firm has 54 points, compared to 47 for the Faenza team.
From our team’s perspective, we are delighted to score an additional six points thanks to Fernando’s robust and competitive driving. He made a strong start, which he maintained with impressive and consistent driving, repeated throughout the laps of the race. It was a great race, matching his standards!
