quoteKimi: “So far we took the best out of the car in most cases”
The race here in Singapore is quite tough, it’s a tricky circuit and quite a long one and the weather is very hot and humid. To go fast here the car has to be right, like any circuit of course, but in a street circuit it’s even more important. It’s not an easy place, but you get exciting moments of racing and overtakes. It’s hard to know what to expect, our approach is the same as in any other race weekend. Last year we did well but this doesn’t mean that automatically it will go the same way this year. From tomorrow we’ll be on track and then we’ll have some ideas of where we are. So far I think we took the best out of the car most of the times, in some circuits and conditions we struggle more, and this can make a big difference. Overall I think we just need to improve the car in all areas, to be faster. Many times this year we have seen that the circuit layout plus the conditions make a big difference. Our aim is to be up there and win in whatever conditions, unfortunately this year it did not happen. For sure we are better than last year but obviously the others have improved more. I’m sure we are doing the right things, we have great people but the speed is missing a bit.
In FP1 some had contact with the walls. And Kimi was long in the pit, seems he had a problem with the car. But he drove in the last minutes so I hope they could fix it.
quoteKimi pleased with handling “but it’s only Friday”
“The first practice session was tricky, I struggled a little bit, but the second practice was good: everything worked and the car was handling pretty well. Here in Singapore, if you get the car right, it’s a lot easier to go faster. Today we had quite a good feeling, but for sure there is still something to improve. It’s hard to say if we can be strong, it’s only Friday, but the feeling was positive. So far so good, but tomorrow is another day, we’ll see where everybody is and then we’ll go from there. We’ll give our best and hopefully we have the speed to challenge our rivals.”
“Today we got more or less what we could from our car. Obviously it’s a bit disappointing given where we finished, but this is a tricky place. The fifth position is not ideal, but I was pretty pleased with my first lap in Q3 and the car was handling well. In the last run I knew I had to push a bit over the limit, trying to improve, but it didn’t pay out. I made some mistakes, I went wide in turn 1 and got sideways. There’s no issue with the car, 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, there will be different ways of using the tires between the teams. The race is going to be very long, and usually there’s a lot happening, so we have to get the timings right and try to go forward.” http://formula1.ferrari.com/en/singapore...l-the-last-run/
Seb looks ahead after qualifying frustration
“Already in the first lap, going into turn one, something happened. Then in turn two, through turn five, I felt that the car was not the same. So far we don’t really know what happened, initially I thought it was at the front, but then it felt like the rear bar had broken. I hadn’t felt anything wrong in P3. Then I wanted to come into the box, but in the end we decided to stay out, and then we came in because it was hopeless anyway, we were just not quick enough, and there was no time within three or four minutes to fix the problem. For tomorrow we have a long race in front of us, with a lot of safety cars. At least we have some new tires, and even if for sure it is not an ideal situation. we can still have a good race.” http://formula1.ferrari.com/en/singapore...ve-a-good-race/
I´m disappointed. I have the feeling Ferrari f***ed up Kimi podium place It´s so strange they manage to get Seb from P22 to P5 and it´s not possible to get Kimi from P5 to P3.
quoteKimi Raikkonen: “It was a good and solid race, the car was behaving well and we had a pretty good speed. Obviously it was very difficult to overtake, but at one point Hamilton made a mistake and I managed to pass him, then after the pit stop he got the position back. We lost the place there, I don’t know how and why they managed to jump us, and I don’t know what would have happened if we would have stayed out. Now we have to go through everything, see what happened and what we could have done better. Today we gained one place from the starting position, but of course this is not the result we are looking for, we are trying to be in position to win, but we need to make the car a bit faster.”
quoteFerrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene defends Raikkonen's strategy Sure
Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Maurizio Arrivabene insists bringing Kimi Raikkonen in for a third pitstop in the Singapore Grand Prix was correct, even though the Finn lost a podium finish. Raikkonen ran third after a mid-race overtaking move on Lewis Hamilton when Mercedes switched strategy and pitted the world champion for fresh ultra-soft tyres. Ferrari had the choice of leaving Raikkonen out on his soft tyres for the final 16 laps and hoping Hamilton did not make up the deficit his stop had created, or immediately pitting in response.
Raikkonen was called in but Hamilton's out-lap was quick enough that he was ahead by the time the Ferrari left the pitlane, and he stayed ahead to the finish. Asked by Autosport if he felt Ferrari had made the right choice, Arrivabene replied: "To be 100% sure, you have to look at the data. "It was the right decision to take. "If we were having huge degradation [on the soft tyres] and Mercedes were taking us, we would have been crazy. "We took a decision looking at our data. The thing to do afterwards is verify if our data was right."
Raikkonen believes there were things Ferrari could learn from in the race, but was unsure whether staying out would have paid off or not. "We could have got to the end," he said when asked by Autosport how his softs would have held up had he stuck with a two-stop. "But would they have caught us or been able to pass us? I don't know yet. "There are certain things we could have done but obviously afterwards it's very easy to say. "Obviously, they managed to get in front of us again so we lost the place. "There was not much we could do anymore by that point."
VETTEL: STRATEGY KEY TO RECOVERY
After the suspension failure in qualifying that left him at the back of the grid, Sebastian Vettel recovered to fifth in the second Ferrari. He ran a two-stop strategy, with a long opening stint on softs before using two sets of new ultra-softs to complete his progress. "If you look at the race now without safety cars there might have been a better way to get to the end, but I think it was a very good strategy that helped us keep our options open and straightaway be in touch with the leaders," said Vettel. "Obviously I was hoping for a safety car at some point to get me close to the leaders. Then anything could have happened. "I had an advantage with my tyres, with fresh sets that I didn't use yesterday. "But there wasn't a safety car, which was a bit of a surprise."
quoteArrivabene defends pit decision that cost Raikkonen podium
By: Charles Bradley, Editor in Chief
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene is sticking by the strategy to pit Kimi Raikkonen for a third time in the Singapore Grand Prix, despite losing the podium position he’d gained over Lewis Hamilton as a result.
Ferrari reacted to Hamilton's third stop by pitting Raikkonen a lap later, but he didn't have a sufficient buffer to defend the undercut from the reigning world champion.
Despite this, Arrivabene believes the risk of leaving Raikkonen out was greater than pitting him for fresh rubber.
"I think it was the right decision to take," said Arrivabene. "At that point, keeping the supersoft maybe [would] have [had] huge degradation – that would be a huge disaster.
"So we had to think about the opposite. We took a decision based on our data, and now the exercise to do is verify if our data was right.
"Kimi was very good today, he's showed he's not a world champion for nothing, in my opinion he was great."
After the race, Raikkonen was unsure about the strategy decision – and believed he could have made it to the end, like race winner Nico Rosberg.
"We have to see what we could have done better," said Raikkonen. "Obviously they managed to get in front of us again, so I lost the place – not much I could do at that point.
"I think [the gap] wasn't so far to the Red Bulls or Lewis, I think we had good speed but most of the race we were stuck behind them. And Nico had more speed than any of us.
"We gained one place, but that's not really what we're looking for. We're trying to be in a position to win. Third or fourth isn't what we want.
"I managed to get past Lewis, I think he made a mistake in Turn 7 and then we fight for a few corners. Unfortunately, they got us back.
"For sure we could have got to the end, but it's always very easy to say afterwards."