23 Sep 2019 ID: 192312
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Podium finish for Verstappen in Singapore

Podium finish for Verstappen in Singapore

A tense and strategic Singapore Grand Prix saw Aston Martin Red Bull Racing secure a podium finish as three of the four Honda-powered cars scored points.

 

At the start of the race, Max held position in fourth place while Alex did likewise in sixth, and further back there were contrasting fortunes for the two Toro Rosso drivers.

 

Daniil had started from 14th on the medium tyre but was struggling in the first stint and pitted on lap 12 for hards in order to try a different strategy. In the other car, Pierre started on the hard compound and ran a long first stint that saw him running in the top three before pitting for mediums just after half distance.

 

With the pace at the front being slow, Red Bull pitted Max early on lap 19 to switch to hard tyres and the move allowed him to jump Lewis Hamilton into third place. Alex pitted a lap later but was unable to gain a position, retaining sixth place.

 

Max then spent the rest of the race putting pressure on the two Ferraris ahead and keeping Hamilton at bay, holding position to take his fourth podium of the season in addition to his two wins.

 

Alex was sixth and backed up by Pierre in eighth, who thanks to strong restarts after Safety Car periods saw him dispatch first Lance Stroll, then Kimi Raikkonen and finally Kevin Magnussen to score four points.

 

Daniil was attempting to reach the points too when he tried to pass Raikkonen into Turn 1 and contact between the two forced him to pit again, limiting him to 15th place.

 

Max Verstappen

“Of course we always want to win but finishing on the podium and gaining one place on a track where you can’t really overtake is positive. It’s true that we came here hoping for more but this is still a good result for us, especially with the pace that the others had yesterday in qualifying. Most of the race was about managing the pace to keep the tyres alive and luckily that worked out for me. Charles was managing his tyres out front and the pace was pretty slow but that kept everyone really close and allowed me to get the undercut on Lewis. We had good pace after the pit stop and I was comfortable in third even with all the safety car re-starts until the last few laps when Lewis was pushing hard to overtake me on newer tyres, but luckily we were able to hold on. I wouldn’t say that today was that exciting from a racing perspective but Singapore has a lot of plus points being a street circuit, really tough on the body and just being a cool track to drive on. This wasn’t exactly the weekend we hoped for but we will keep pushing before next weekend.”

 

Alex Albon

“Most of that race was just managing my tyres so it was physically easier than I expected. It was only in the last 20 laps when I was really pushing it that I could feel the strain. So, I would call it a battle of management as I started P6 and finished P6. At times it felt more like a procession than a race for me. It was also a bit frustrating as I spent the whole race stuck behind a Mercedes. As I couldn’t overtake on the track I hoped that a pit stop would move me up the field but unfortunately that didn’t happen and then the safety car came out a few times. In the middle stint I wanted to get past Valtteri but I didn’t have the pace to overtake the Mercedes. I spent the whole race staring at a silver rear wing which wasn’t that fun. When he pushed I pushed and when he saved his tyres I saved mine so I felt like I was just going backwards and forwards and it almost felt like he backed me up so Lewis could get ahead. All in all for my first time here it was a positive race. My pace was a lot better so I’m definitely making progress. Even during the race I was finding little tricks to improve my speed. I was amazed by how many Thai flags were out there in the crowd so it was great to be racing here.”

 

Pierre Gasly

“I enjoyed that race so much! Things didn’t really come all together with the timing of the first safety car, but the last part of the race was really exciting. The beginning went pretty well for us, and I didn’t know it at the time, but we were running in P2 for a couple of laps before our pitstop, and that was cool! Then, when the safety car came out, we lost three or four positions which was a bit annoying. I gave it everything I had to pass Kimi and had a couple of exciting battles with Kevin and Lance, so it feels very good to score these points. It was a tough race, but a great result for the team in the Championship battle, as it’s quite close. I’m really happy with the way we’re working as a team, every weekend it gets better and we make a step forward, so we just need to keep pushing in the same direction for the next few races.”

 

Daniil Kvyat

“Today wasn’t my day. When you have a race like this you just have to raise your hand, take the blame, and move onto the next one. There were chances for me to score points today but, unfortunately, I didn’t take them. I got stuck behind drivers and didn’t show my best driving. I don’t want to make any excuse, but I also had to deal with some kind of ‘fog’ on my mirrors, which made it harder to defend - I just had to give more space due to the lack of visibility. Finally, the collision with Kimi damaged my car making it even harder, but at the end my race was already compromised.”

 

Toyoharu Tanabe

“As usual, Max produced a very strong race, making up one place from his grid position to finish on the podium, thanks to a good strategy that saw him undercut Hamilton. It was a good way to end the weekend. However, after their win in Monza, today we saw that Ferrari is now also quick on a technical track. As for Toro Rosso, Gasly produced some excellent overtakes, scoring a valuable four points. Kvyat’s pace wasn’t bad but he was unable to finish in the points. Overall, we got three of our four cars in the points, including Albon who delivered a solid performance on his first visit to this track. We know we must continue to push hard to get on terms with those ahead of us.”

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