FORMULA 1

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Antonio Giovinazzi handed 10-second time penalty after Singapore GP

Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi has been handed a ten-second post-race time penalty for driving too close to the marshals and crane during a Safety Car period.

Giovinazzi – who at one point led the race – was instructed to stay to the right of the crane, but the stewards felt that he drove too close to the incident in what they considered a "potentially seriously dangerous situation".

The Italian finished 18 seconds ahead of 11th placed Romain Grosjean, therefore the time penalty has no impact on Giovinazzi's result and he remains tenth to score a single championship point.

"The Race Director had instructed all cars to stay to the right at the incident at Turn 8, because of the crane and marshals working the crash at that location. There was a double waved yellow before the incident.

"While the Stewards accepted the explanation of the driver that he felt he was going sufficiently slowly, and while he was driving to his SC delta time, he did however end up driving closer to the crane and marshalls than was felt safe by either the marshalls on location or the Race Director. The Stewards concur.

"The driver had been told of the location of the incident and to stay right, but may not have considered that the crane was moving. The Stewards consider this to be a potentially seriously dangerous situation and a risk to the marshals, and order a ten second penalty."

His Alfa Romeo team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, was also cleared over a clash with Daniil Kvyat which forced Raikkonen's retirement.

“Kvyat explained that he saw that Raikkonen was slowing and harvesting [energy] into turn one," the stewards added. "He moved to the inside and attempted to make the pass. He was on soft tyres.

"The stewards accepted his explanation that he felt he could make the corner. Raikkonen explained that he had seen Kvyat earlier, but had not expected him to be so far into the corner when he turned in."

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Kimi Raikkonen 'has something to think about' after clash - Daniil Kvyat

Daniil Kvyat believes Kimi Raikkonen should be held fully responsible for their clash during the closing stages of Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Kvyat dived to the inside of Raikkonen during the closing stages of the race at Marina Bay but the pair made contact, causing terminal damage to Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo.

Kvyat pressed onwards and ultimately classified a low-key 15th; the pair will meet the stewards to discuss the incident.

“I overtook him, I broke late, went in the inside, was making the corner, but he didn’t leave me space, he turned in like I wasn’t there, so I think he has something to think about,” said Kvyat.

“I was making the corner, I wasn’t going to go straight, when we’re side-by-side and he just shuts the door I don’t think it’s really good for his side.”

Kvyat was also left frustrated by his mirrors fogging up during the race.

“I think I had foggy mirrors, which is a lame excuse but they were bothering me a lot today,” said Kvyat.

“At the restart they just f*** you up so much. I tried to open the door and tried to overtake someone and someone else comes inside, I don’t know if they are there so I have to take a wider line, it’s pretty bad, we have to understand why it happened today.

“Other than that it was a bit crazy, I did my best, sometimes they don’t go my way, it didn’t go my way.”

When asked for his take on the clash, Raikkonen said: “My tyres were quite old by then and I knew he was quite a bit faster as he was on fresh tyres.

“I looked in the mirror on the straight and he was quite far. Just when I was turning in I kind of saw him on the side, with my eye, because on the mirror he wasn’t here. It was too late, so we touched and that’s about it.”

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Bottas team order "not great" but necessary - Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted the team did not feel good in having to make the call for Valtteri Bottas to back off and avoid overtaking Lewis Hamilton with an undercut during their pitstops in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Bottas had been pitted earlier than Hamilton as the team tried to find a way to get past the lead Ferrari cars, but its decision to extend the world champion’s first stint opened up the risk of him falling behind his Finnish teammate.

Just before Hamilton’s stop, Mercedes strategist James Vowles was heard over the radio instructing Bottas to back off by several seconds and hold up the pursuing Alex Albon to ensure that both cars did not leapfrog the British driver.

Wolff confessed that it was not an easy message to deliver, but says it had no choice because of the way the powerful undercut was helping cars that pitted first.

“It's not a great call that we made there, but the undercut was more powerful than everybody expected,” said Wolff. “I don't think that Ferrari wanted to swap their drivers, with letting Sebastian pit first. And we risked Lewis' position by keeping him out in order to protect the win.

“This is why we held Valtteri back to keep Albon behind, because Lewis would've come out behind Albon. So overall the team result would've been worse than with Valtteri doing that. We owe him that place.”

While Bottas admitted that backing off to avoid overtaking his world championship rival felt unnatural, and looked harsh from the outside, he said it would have made no sense for Mercedes to have give him freedom to pass Hamilton.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he was disappointed when the call came, Bottas said: “Well I knew it already at that point because there are certain rules we follow.

“Always before the pitstop, the one who's qualified better, the one who's ahead still before the pitstops, always gets the priority. Obviously you can then choose to go short or long. He chose to go long and then it's me behind and that's how it goes. If I would have gone flat-out and undercut him, Albon also would have.

“So I completely see the point from the team on that and I know he will do the same if it's vice versa. I will make sure that it will be the same vice versa, and I trust it will be.”

He added: “Obviously from the outside it looks pretty bad and from my side being in that situation it's completely against your instincts to back off and not overtake your teammate – that doesn’t make any sense.

“But it’s been there, that kind of rule, since I don’t know how long in the team – at least since I joined. But it is both ways - it’s not for Lewis, it is both ways. So, it’s okay.”

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Plastic sandwich bag caused Magnussen's pace drop-off

A plastic sandwich bag lodged in Kevin Magnussen's front wing was the cause of the pace drop-off that effectively dashed his chances of a point-scoring finish in the Singapore Grand Prix.
Magnussen had looked on course for an eighth-place finish at the Marina Bay circuit but it all went wrong after the final safety car period when a clear plastic bag got stuck in the left side of front wing – badly affecting the car's aerodynamics.

The bag, which can be seen in the exclusive photograph below, cost the Haas driver around four seconds per lap of pace.

The team had no choice but to pit him three laps from home to get rid of it because he was losing too much time and was also destroying the tyres.

Team principal Gunther Steiner said: "It was after the [final] restart, when he all of a sudden got slower.

"He drove by a few times and we checked [the wing] because one of the engineers said we can see a loss of front downforce, and we thought the wing was broken.

"But Kevin said he didn't hit anything, and you could not see it when he was driving by as the wing was up.

"That is why we made a pitstop, as he lost so much downforce, so he came in and we put new tyres on and took the bag out.

"The tyres were going, so there was no point to stay out there. At least with a new set of tyres we can put a nice lap in and we see what it is. We got the bag."

Asked by Motorsport.com if he felt the bag had cost the team points, Steiner said: "It didn't help. You start to think that the front wing is broke and you lose downforce, and then the car doesn't work any more. Would we have been able without the bag to keep the tyres alive? I don't know."

Magnussen eventually finished 17th thanks to the late pitstop, with teammate Romain Grosjean coming home 11th.

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Russell: "Shame" Grosjean clash didn't also ruin his race

Williams Formula 1 driver George Russell says it's a "shame" his Singapore Grand Prix collision with Romain Grosjean ended only his race and not Grosjean's as well.

The crash happened when Grosjean had tried to hang his Haas VF-19 round the outside of Russell exiting Turn 8 in a lap 35 battle for 17th place.

His right-front tyre made contact with the left rear of Russell and the Briton's Williams was speared into the wall, Russell retiring on the spot and telling his team "I shouldn't be surprised" in the immediate aftermath.

Grosjean went on to finish the grand prix in 11th, and had a post-race conversation with Russell, who was frustrated by the Haas driver refusing to accept the blame.

"He said I left him no room and that he was in the wall before he hit me. And I just said, well, that's absolutely not the case, because I had the last hour to be able to watch the video," Russell said.

"It's a shame that it just ruined my race and not his too. So that's probably why he doesn't feel like he was in the wrong. At the end of the day, if the exact same incident were to happen again, there is nothing I would do different."

Explaining why he felt Grosjean was to blame, Russell said: "Romain had his right to lunge it down the inside at the apex of the corner, we were side by side, but I had the inside momentum and come mid-exit phase I was well ahead, half a car's length to three quarters of it ahead of him.

"And by that point, the guy on the inside has got the right to take the racing line, and it's the guy-on-the-outside's job to concede the corner.

"And I don't really know what he was trying to do, because even if he committed a bit more he still wouldn't have been able to overtake."

The stewards are still investigating the collision, and both drivers have been summoned for a post-race hearing.

Speaking to the media, Grosjean made it clear he was yet to see footage, but offered his view of the collision.

"We were side by side and then George went on throttle early and I was on the left so I didn’t have much room to go more to the left, obviously there’s a wall there," he said.

"I just need to see footage. What I think is that he had a moment mid-corner with his rear and touched my front, and then sent him the other way around.

"It’s bloody difficult to overtake in that circuit and when you know there’s a car on entry phase next to you, you know it’s going to do the corner on the outside, so I’ve had the occasion with a few other guys and it’s gone okay.

"I need to see the footage, obviously George is not super happy, but I don’t think I had much more room to go any more on the left."

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Hulkenberg probably "regretting" first-lap move - Sainz

McLaren's Carlos Sainz believes that Nico Hulkenberg regrets the duo's first-lap incident at the Singapore Grand Prix, which forced both he and the Renault Formula 1 driver to pit.

Sainz and Hulkenberg maintained their starting positions of seventh and eighth after the opening corners, with the former attacking Red Bull's Alex Albon for sixth.

Attempting to find a way around the outside of Albon at Turn 5, Sainz was instead collected by Hulkenberg, who had taken the inside line.

The incident left Sainz with a puncture and significant floor damage, while Hulkenberg also had to pit at the end of the first lap for new tyres.

Although Hulkenberg rescued a ninth place, while Sainz recovered to 12th having been a lap down, the Spaniard suggested that Hulkenberg will rue the incident and that more points were on offer for both drivers.

"I was thinking about overtaking Albon," explained Sainz, "and so Nico was not really on my radar.

"I really got a good start, Albon defended on the inside and I went around the outside, and then I wanted to close the door, which meant I had to brake and maybe Nico saw it as an opportunity.

"[It was an] opportunistic, ambitious move, which honestly after the race he came to me and said he's sorry about it! It's a shame because it could have been P7 and P8 for us today and maybe he's regretting it now."

Reflecting on the incident, Hulkenberg explained that he tried to take evasive action on the inside of the kerb at Turn 5, but was unable to avoid contact.

"I was attacking him, but there was sort of moving left-right, and he was on the left preparing the exit of five, and I went on the inside. I was well alongside him, but then I saw that he just turned in quite aggressively and wasn't going to leave space, so I tried to back out of it.

"I went on the inside kerb, everything, couldn't avoid the wheel-to-wheel contact anymore, I picked up a puncture and he also had some damage."

Sainz added that the contact denied him of an "easy" seventh-place finish, which was eventually claimed by McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who benefitted from the first-lap incident between the two.

"Honestly, with the pace we've had this weekend, and the pace I even had with the damaged car, today was an easy P7.

"It was so easy today to grab it, and that is disappointing because of that incident we didn't even fight for it.

"Nico is a great driver, a great guy and I'm not going to take it out on him but we both know we both had an easy P7 and P8 in our hands after being there in the first three corners."

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Binotto explains how Red Bull inadvertently cost Leclerc Singapore victory

Sebastian Vettel undercutting Charles Leclerc with an early pit stop in Singapore was the key to the German securing his first victory in over a year. But although the strategy left Saturday’s polesitter and early race leader Leclerc raging in his car, as he was left to come home second, as Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto explained after the race, the Monegasque was simply a victim of circumstance.

That particular circumstance arose at the end of Lap 18, when Ferrari spotted Red Bull’s pit crew emerging from their garage, with Max Verstappen duly called in from P4. Unable to call Leclerc into the pits in time even if they’d wanted to, instead Vettel, some four seconds further back, received a late call to pit from third place, before then pounding in a rapid out-lap to emerge with the net lead after Leclerc’s own stop a lap later.

“I think when we stopped Sebastian at first, Verstappen was ready to stop so we had to protect his position,” explained Binotto after the race. “It was the best opportunity for us to try to overtake [second-placed Lewis] Hamilton and as well later on we would’ve stopped Charles and the pit crew would’ve been free for him.

“That was the right time to stop Sebastian, no discussion. I think then when going out [Sebastian] drove very well on new tyres and simply that’s racing, and he [was] ahead of Charles. We could not have stopped, at that stage, Charles. Because if you are leading the race you will not stop from first and it was simply the proper window for Seb.”

Finding himself unexpectedly behind Vettel, a furious Leclerc remonstrated on the radio, before being told to keep his head down. “My head will be down, I just want to let you know my feelings," he responded. "To be completely honest, I don’t understand the undercut.”

Having calmed down out of the car, however, Leclerc told the media: “I obviously did not expect Seb to pass me and it was frustrating from the car, but I also completely understand that if this decision has been taken it’s for sure for the good of the team… The only answer I need really is that there was no other way for us to be first and second in the same order before the pit stop. This is the only answer I need.

“I’m happy for the team anyway.”

After being spotted after the race explaining the situation to Leclerc’s manager, Nicolas Todt, Binotto went on to praise Leclerc’s attitude, calling his frustration ‘positive’ while comparing the situation to Belgium, where Vettel played the team game to help Leclerc take his maiden victory.

“I told [Todt] that I know that obviously Charles is annoyed, frustrated which is positive, a positive attitude because if you would be a driver, that is the right attitude to have. But I told him that the scenarios were bigger and by the time that he will understand the picture and quickly understand the reason of the choice.

“It’s important for me that he’s happy as well, happy for the team, it’s a one-two. Obviously for him it’s a missed win but that’s... been the opposite maybe in Belgium. That’s all.”

Binotto would have been especially happy with the result in Singapore, given that it bore the first Ferrari one-two since the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, as well as their third victory in a row – while the stunning performance of the Ferrari SF90 at the high-downforce Marina Bay Street Circuit will also give the team confidence that they can chase down more wins in the remaining six races this season.

 

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Alexander Albon was finding ‘little tricks’ amid procession

Alexander Albon revealed that he was able to find “little tricks” during a “processional” Singapore Grand Prix, as he gathered further experience with Red Bull.

Albon had never previously driven at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and lacked pace compared to Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen throughout the course of the weekend.

In a race that was determined by pit strategy and tyre preservation Albon remained at the rear of the lead six-car train throughout, but felt boosted by the gains he was able to make in understanding the RB15.

“I would call it a battle of management as I started P6 and finished P6,” said Albon.

“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 [Bottas] 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 [Hamilton] 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.”

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Max Verstappen: Singapore pace a wake-up call for Red Bull

Max Verstappen has outlined that Red Bull’s pace in Singapore acts as a “little wake-up call” for the team, despite taking a podium finish.

Red Bull had expected to challenge Mercedes for victory at Marina Bay but instead Ferrari moved to the front, taking a 1-2 finish in a race dictated by pit stop strategy.

Verstappen had qualified fourth and profited from Mercedes erroneously attempting the overcut with Lewis Hamilton, which enabled the Red Bull driver to move into third.

But Verstappen was unimpressed by the outcome of the weekend.

“It was not good enough,” said Verstappen.“We came here to win and we clearly didn’t.

“I think [qualifying] was worse than [the race]. I would say it’s a little wake up call. From Austria onwards I would say it’s our worst race in terms of performance where we expected to be really good.

“I have a few ideas why it went wrong so we will analyse all of them and see if we can already be better at Sochi.

“The layout is not amazing for us but you can clearly see if the car is working through corners or not.

“I think here clearly in two corners the car was not working like I wanted it to, so we will go away and see what we can do better.”

Verstappen faced some late pressure from Hamilton but reckoned the Mercedes driver was never a serious threat to his podium place.

“My tyres were going off a little bit but I think it’s quite normal and his tyres were seven or eight laps better than mine, and with seven or eight laps to go I didn’t have any problems,” he said.

“It really started to be with four laps to go and then you could really see Lewis closing in, so I just had to make sure I had some good exits out of some crucial corners where I knew he was going to be quick and we managed to do that.

“I guess the people in the garage were a bit wobbly, I was just focusing on getting good exits.”

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Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari’s car works everywhere now

Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari will be “very hard” to beat across the remainder of 2019, reckoning its SF90 is now a car capable of challenging for victory at each event.

Ferrari has held a straight-line speed advantage throughout the campaign but has often lacked pace on circuits that place an emphasis on high downforce or aerodynamic efficiency.

Ferrari had chances to win at grands prix such as Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Canada, but was substantially off the pace in Australia, Spain, France and Hungary.

It delivered close-run back-to-back victories in Belgium and Italy courtesy of Charles Leclerc but had been expected to struggle in Singapore, only to deliver a 1-2 finish, securing a hat-trick of wins.

Mercedes, meanwhile, finished off the podium with Hamilton’s overcut strategy relegating him from second to fourth, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas a subdued fifth.

“I tend to think I’m a realist so I see the situation we’re in,” said Hamilton.

“They’ve [Ferrari] just come up with some sort of upgrade that’s perhaps put their car in… Maybe they already had a good car all year, it just wasn’t working in the right window. Maybe? Who knows?

“Because they couldn’t have brought – well maybe they did but it’s unlikely that they brought a massive, massive upgrade that brought them 20 or 30 points or something, which is the performance level you’d have expected they would have taken here.

“But clearly their car works really well everywhere now, so it’s going to be very hard to beat them, particularly as they are so quick on the straights.

“We can’t compete with them on the straights at the moment.

“But we have won before with not the best car, it’s just really how we deliver over the weekend and at the moment they are delivering better on both ends.

“If we were better in the operations area then I think we can just pip them.”

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Vettel: Singapore GP win "confirmation" rather than relief

Singapore Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel has admitted ending his win drought has brought some relief - but feels it was more of a "confirmation" of his current direction.
Vettel’s first victory of 2019 ended a wait of more than a year for a win, stretching back to the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion has come under scrutiny for multiple high-profile mistakes in that period, including a spin and “dangerous” return to the track at the previous race in Italy.

Asked how it felt to hit back, the Ferrari driver said said: “Maybe less satisfying than you think.

“I don’t think there was anything wrong [with my form]. So it wasn’t like we were lacking speed or anything. Things weren’t maybe falling in place, plus obviously I messed up in the race in Monza, that’s my mistake.

“I’ve been around now for a long, long time and it’s just how the tide turns sometimes.

“I have the highest expectation on myself and I’m not happy when I’m not delivering what I know I can.

“Certainly I had moments this year when I was struggling. So, I know that I can improve from there, I can’t be happy with that. But equally I know that it wasn’t as bad or disastrous as maybe people put it together.

“If you’ve been around for such a long time and you’ve had so many good moments then obviously you get hammered when there are bad moments. That’s just part of the game.”

Vettel said he had been asked “a couple of times” if there was any relief in his victory, which came after back-to-back wins for new Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

“Yes in a way, maybe it kicks in a bit later,” said Vettel. “Maybe just a confirmation that if you keep doing what you do [things will improve].

“[There are] moments where you know that things are wrong and you need to make changes but lately I didn't feel that any big changes are necessary.

“In that regard it’s a confirmation but it’s not like ‘finally, I can breathe again’. It’s not like I felt in a wrong and bad place. I knew that I have to pull through and go through it myself.”

Vettel said he felt he was not “really far away from a breakthrough moment” and was more competitive throughout the Singapore weekend.

But his victory only came after he pitted from third place one lap earlier than Leclerc and the power of the undercut meant Ferrari turned a one-three into a one-two.

Vettel said “you are very misled if you ever think that you are bigger than this team” and insisted the team’s result was greater than individual glory.

“The team is bigger than myself, bigger than any individual, so I am happy for the guys, and obviously we finished one-two,” said Vettel.

“For me the order is important and for Charles the order is important, that’s why we are here, we want to fight for victories. But the team is bigger than us.”

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Singapore GP result "damage limitation" for Renault

Renault admits a ninth place finish for Nico Hulkenberg in the Singapore GP was "damage limitation" in the battle with McLaren for fourth place in the championship.
The two Renault drivers had eventful races, with both Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo suffering punctures after collisions with other cars.

Ricciardo started 20th after receiving a penalty and made good early progress through the field, but he fell back to an eventual 14th after he picked up a puncture in a clash with Antonio Giovinazzi.

Hulkenberg dropped to the rear of the field after collecting a puncture in first lap contact with Carlos Sainz. At one stage the German was the fastest driver on the track, until he got caught behind Romain Grosjean's Haas.

The team considered sending him to the end of the race on his hard tyres, but he pitted under the safety car and eventually finished ninth. With Lando Norris earning seventh McLaren extended its advantage by four points.

"We had more pace than that for sure, and clearly we were expecting more than that," Renault's executive director Marcin Budkowski told Motorsport.com.

"Having one car starting from 20th didn't help. Both drivers had the pace to do better, and both had punctures that forced us to stop. Neither of them was able to do the strategy that we were planning for them.

"We thought about trying to get Nico to the end, but based on his feedback and the opportunity of stopping under the safety car, we decided to stop him, and I think it was the right call.

"I think two points and damage limitation in terms of McLaren is not that bad, with Lando finishing seventh. Given the pace of the car and where we qualified we were hoping for better."

Hulkenberg admitted that he thought his race was over after his first-lap stop.

"I thought, 'Jesus, that's going to be tough'," he said. "Then obviously the good news is I had a bit of clean air for the first few laps, then went through the Williams, but then got stuck behind the Haas, which was a bit difficult to get by, I used a lot of tyre there.

"The effect behind another car is just huge here, and if you're already struggling with your tyres a bit it's almost impossible."

After his second stop, Hulkenberg took advantage of being one of the few drivers on fresh tyres in the closing laps.

"I think right at the end there was a lot of cars on older tyres, and obviously after the safety car, even if you have only 10 lap fresher tyres, that makes a difference, and the guys that were on 20-lap old tyres, they just suffered much more, they had less grip and we were able to attack them quite easily."

Ricciardo enjoyed his initial charge through the field.

"The start was definitely fun," said the Australian. "I was having a blast out there and just getting a few cars. That was good, pulling off some moves, which I didn't feel was probably that easy around here before the race.

"But I started to get a good rhythm and get some confidence. So that was going good. And then after that – the contact with Giovinazzi obviously destroyed our race.

"I didn't really feel like at the time it was his fault, didn't feel it was my fault – I just felt it was a bit of an unfortunate incident. Bit of wheelspin I think on the exit, and maybe that then slid into him. But anyway, it happens."

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Haas in talks with Kubica over test/simulator role

Haas has opened talks with Robert Kubica about the Pole becoming a test and simulator driver in 2020, team boss Gunther Steiner has confirmed.
Kubica announced ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix that he would be leaving Williams at the end of the season, although he had not made his mind up what he wanted to do.

While he has been linked with other racing series including DTM, the likelihood is that he will want to retain some ties with F1.

Steiner has revealed that he is discussions with the former grand prix winner about a role for next season, which could include some Friday practice running.

"Anything is possible and we are talking with him," explained Steiner. "I always talk with a lot of people, try to make things better. But I don't know yet [if it will happen].

"I need still to speak with Robert if he wants to do it now he has decided he is leaving Williams, but I don't know his other plans."

Although Kubica has had a challenging campaign of racing, Steiner says he remains convinced about the qualities he could bring to Haas in terms of his technical knowledge.

"He's got lot of experience, and he is known to be one of the best of test and simulator drivers around. I've never worked with him, but I've got a lot of people which worked with him, and they all respect him a lot.

"I think he cannot do a full-time job, or he doesn't want to. But he is a good benchmark."

Should Haas get as far as concluding a deal with Kubica, then Steiner is clear that it would make sense to give him some Friday runs.

"With no testing next year we need to do it, because otherwise there is no point to put someone in the simulator who cannot make a correlation. We need to do tests or free practices. That's all part of it.

"But I think we are getting ahead of ourselves here. It [the discussion] is in infant stage, but it is possible."

Racing Point has also been strongly linked with slotting Kubica in in a similar role.

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Brawn: Any changes to F1 qualifying format in 2020 will be purely experimental

F1 is set for a big rules shake-up in 2021, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be changes in 2020 too. There have been discussions, for example, about potential changes to the qualifying format – but F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn has moved to clarify that any such moves would be purely experimental in nature.

“In recent days I’ve read a variety of statements from drivers and pundits concerning ideas to make the race weekend format more spectacular,” said Brawn.

“To try to clarify the situation and avoid misunderstandings, there are discussions about experimenting in 2020 with changes to the qualifying format with the aim of making a Grand Prix weekend a little less predictable.

“I want to emphasise the word ‘experiment’ because this is what it is about – a small sample to establish the directions for the future. We are all too aware that the current qualifying format is exciting and spectacular but what is also important is to make sure that the race, the highlight of the weekend, is the best it can be.”

Brawn said that the best way to trial whether a new format - reverse grid qualifying races have been mooted - could contribute to that overall outcome was trying it in a real world scenario:

“No matter how many simulations you run, there’s no measure more accurate than the track. Formula 1, the teams and the FIA are studying the possibility of a revised format for a small number of events for next season. With stable sporting and technical regulations in place for 2020 it is the perfect time for such evaluations.

“No decision has been taken yet because we are finalising all the details, but feedbacks received so far are, in the majority, positive. I understand that the purists might be concerned, but we should not be afraid to conduct an experiment otherwise we cannot progress.

“We don't want change for the sake of change; we want to improve our sport, because, rather like the development of the cars, if you stand still you risk slipping backwards.”

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Kubica hails Singapore finish as one of his 'biggest personal achievements’

The physical demands of the Singapore Grand Prix mean that just finishing the race is often a Herculean task. For Williams’ Robert Kubica the feeling of reaching the chequered flag was amplified, not just because of his physical limitations, but because of a far from ideal preparation for the race…

Williams’ struggles this season have been well-documented, from missing the first day of pre-season testing to having scored a solitary point all year. But Kubica’s unlikely comeback to Formula 1 following the horrific injuries he suffered in 2011 has been one of the most uplifting threads in this season’s storyline.

Given Williams’ form, Kubica, who will leave Williams at the end of the season, wasn't expecting a major upset in Singapore, but having banged himself up a little falling down stairs ahead of the race, the Pole was quick to highlight what an achievement it was to make it home in the penultimate position.

“Okay, the result is not great which we could expect,” he conceded, “but the personal goal and personal achievement I think is big, looking at how tough this race is, looking at my condition – I suffered a small injury last Sunday so I wasn’t 100% and managed [not to make] a mistake in a difficult race in such a difficult track.

“Knowing where I was two or three years ago – I think this is one of the biggest of my career. But it remains personal because the result didn’t pay off.”

Nine years ago, Kubica lit up Singapore with a spectacular late charge for Renault. This year's race didn't quite reach those heights, but he offered up a little of the old magic with a spectacular move around Kevin Magnussen's Haas on lap 55.

“It was tough today, we had quite a difficult race with a lot of things to manage,” Kubica said of the driving challenge. “We were pretty hot, struggling to follow the others, then managing the tyres. Actually in the last [stint], for whatever reason I just left the garage I had huge vibration.

“At 250 [kph] I struggled to see, actually I couldn’t see my [pit] board, on the straight line, so on every straight line when there were some sparks coming behind the other cars it wasn’t easy.”

Whether or not Williams manage to turn their season around with just six races to go, Kubica’s story will remain inspirational. Next, he faces his first - and possibly last - Russian Grand Prix.

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Gasly: Singapore points serve as 'thank you' to Toro Rosso

Singapore saw Pierre Gasly secure his highest finish for Toro Rosso since his recent return, and said his P8 finish at Marina Bay was a “thank you” to the team that gave him a warm welcome back.

Shocked by Red Bull management switching him back to the Faenza squad ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Gasly finished ninth at Spa and then 11th in Italy, before securing eighth under the floodlights on Sunday.

And while the seat he vacated for Alex Albon at Red Bull is still open for 2020, Gasly is making the most of life at Toro Rosso, who sit just 12 points behind Renault in the constructors’ championship. In particular, he praised the team for striving to welcome him back and put him in a competitive position in the Honda-powered STR14.

“It’s been really good I must say," said the Frenchman. "The team is really pushing hard and trying everything to make me feel comfortable in the car and try to make it where I need it to be to really extract the maximum from it. I must say they have been really good and it feels good to get a result like this to thank them."

Regarding a potential return to Red Bull next season, he added: “To be fair, I think at the moment I’m just happy with the steps we are making with Toro Rosso.

“I managed to get the car where I want and every weekend we seem to make a step forward. We still need to work even harder because I feel there is more to come, but we’ll see the outcome at the end of the season.”

Gasly was in the running for an even better result in Singapore, having run as high as second – behind brief leader Antonio Giovinazzi – before he pitted on lap 33. Unfortunately for him, he missed the chance to come in under a Safety Car, the first of which appeared on lap 36.

“Someone told us that somehow we were running P2 before the stop, which never really happens – I didn’t even know that during the race – but when the Safety Car came out we kind of lost three or four positions so we came out P12, which was a bit annoying.

“But I gave it everything at the end to pass Kimi [Raikkonen], I had a couple of good battles with Kevin [Magnussen] and Lance [Stroll] and so it feels good to score these four points.”

As for his near-miss with Sebastian Vettel, Gasly said he was caught off guard when the Ferrari driver dived in for a pass at Turn 7 midway through the race, and that he did his best to take evasive action.

“To be fair, I saw he was quite far back,” said Gasly. “I didn’t expect him to send it from that far back so coming in the corner I thought he would stay behind and I just saw his nose really late as I was turning in… but luckily we didn’t touch.”

Next up for Gasly is the Russian Grand Prix, where he hopes he can make a name for himself – just not in the same fashion as Toro Rosso team mate Daniil Kvyat infamously did a couple of years back…

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Robert Kubica's dream-turned-nightmare comeback still inspirational

Robert Kubica’s Formula 1 comeback is reaching its closing stages but, whatever the pure results say, it remains a compelling story and a tale of inspiration.

Kubica began exploring the idea of a comeback in early 2017 and a handful of tests in 2012-spec machinery courtesy of Renault convinced him that it was no longer a pipe dream but a reality that he could chase. His official test, held at the post-race running in Hungary, was borderline extraordinary, as thousands of Polish fans flocked to be present, cheering his every appearance. To even reach that stage marked an incredible feat of perseverance and dedication, and when a potential Renault avenue was closed Williams opened the door for Kubica to continue his pursuit.

Following a spate of tests Kubica was overlooked by Williams for 2018, as it recruited Sergey Sirotkin to partner Lance Stroll, but in accepting a test and reserve role he remained in Formula 1. With Stroll exiting for Racing Point, and Sirotkin’s backers unwilling to commit such substantial sums for another year, Williams turned to Kubica, whose own financial power was a facilitating factor. Nonetheless, that 2018 role proved crucial, with Kubica's hardwork and feedback well-received by the team.

Immediately, though, 2019 became a tale of a team in strife and a driver struggling in the circumstances. It appeared a relationship doomed for failure, and Kubica’s early frustrations were understandable, for Williams was not in a position to provide him and George Russell with a car for the first quarter of pre-season testing. When the FW42 finally arrived it was slow and unpredictable, while the lack of spare parts restricted what running could be undertaken. Having entered the season behind the curve Williams’ decline was accelerated, while Kubica was lacking the pre-season preparations and understanding that he needed. For a driver so meticulous and hard-working it was an anathema. 

Williams’ worst fears were realised at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as the FW42 was substantially adrift at the rear of the pack, prompting acceptance that 2019 was the start of a long road to recovery. Soon, though, a theme developed. Kubica was unable to match rookie team-mate Russell, and suggestions that his car was inferior – or an older spec – were soon dismissed by the squad. A new chassis was brought to Baku, which Russell wound up using after his drain incident, but when Kubica switched to it for Spain there was no upturn in his performance levels.

It was a similar story through the middle chunk of the campaign. Kubica frequently trailed Russell by half a second in qualifying as he complained of a lack of grip from the FW42, sliding with the tyres, with the concerning element being the apparent absence or ideas of how to address the problem. “I just had no grip” came the recurring complaint, as Williams and Kubica’s season slid towards oblivion. In Canada he recalled that the situation was so bad that his car was turning one way under braking. The update package in Germany was immediately compromised when a crucial piece of bodywork made a bid for freedom on his FP1 installation lap. In Hungary he could not match the heroics of team-mate Russell, who challenged for Q2 and legitimately fought with rivals. Performance-wise, Kubica has not been at the races in 2019.

Kubica has trailed Russell 15-0 in qualifying so far and that theme has been maintained in most grands prix, though in staying out of trouble in the frantic German Grand Prix he picked up Williams’ sole 2019 point (so far) in the wake of Alfa Romeo’s post-race penalty. It won’t change his life, nor Williams’ awful season, but it is something. Kubica put in a battling performance in Singapore and the usually self-effacing Pole was effusive.

“Okay, the result is not great which we could expect,” he conceded, “but the personal goal and personal achievement I think is big, looking at how tough this race is, looking at my condition – I suffered a small injury last Sunday so I wasn’t 100 per cent and managed [not to make] a mistake in a difficult race in such a difficult track. Knowing where I was two or three years ago – I think this is one of the biggest of my career. But it remains personal because the result didn’t pay off.”

And therein lies one of the biggest elements of Kubica’s comeback: the very fact he did it. To miss out on active competition for eight years – in which period the sport has undergone rapid changes – and still be relatively competitive is also an achievement.

“I think with the tyres, understanding the tyres, is very very difficult,” said Russell on having Kubica as a team-mate. “There’s a lot of lap time to come if you almost had the preparation through the years of this. I think one thing that’s been a big advantage [for me] is in GP3, F2, doing the testing with Mercedes, being inside the team to understand these quite frankly rubbish tyres.

“I think also driving a car that has not been nice to drive this year it’s incredibly difficult, and every driver would want to drive at 100 per cent, but quite often you go quicker to drive at 95 per cent as it’s been quite unpredictable for us. I think Robert is sort of always flat out, giving it 100 per cent, and when the car has been nice to drive he’s definitely kept me on my toes. I can’t really say how he’ll get on in other formulas but I think he’s one of the most naturally talented drivers to come through Formula 1 in the last couple of years.

“We really get along and we joke, we have fun with each other outside of the car. So people maybe don’t realise that, or see that, but we definitely have a very good relationship and that part I’ll miss.”

Lewis Hamilton, a month younger than Kubica and a contemporary through karting, junior categories and Formula 1, was quick to heap praise upon the outgoing Williams driver.

“What’s remarkable is the strength and determination he’s shown,” said Hamilton. “Not a lot of people can come through those circumstances and come back, make it back into the sport and deliver against others who don’t have the same situation that he’s been in. I think it’s been great to have him back. It’s definitely not the same scenario as when he was obviously in a more competitive team back in the day – but I think he’s done great this year. We need the best talent in the sport and we obviously need them to be as high up as possible creating a part of the show.”

Perhaps in a different 2019 package, or at a different team, Kubica would have fared better. We also do not know yet the long-term potential of Russell, who has been tipped in some quarters as a potential future champion; Pierre Gasly, for example, was largely trounced by Max Verstappen at Red Bull, while Antonio Giovinazzi has not cut the mustard versus Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo, yet both should be on the 2020 grid with another chance to try their hand.

If you were to look at the timesheets, the gaps and the overall results then Kubica’s season has been one of failure. But when viewed within the overall narrative this failure can still be regarded as an inspirational success.

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Alfa Romeo loses court case, German GP result stands

The FIA has dismissed Alfa Romeo’s protest against its German Grand Prix penalty, meaning the result of July’s chaotic rain-hit race is now official.

Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi classified seventh and eighth respectively at Hockenheim, but post-race checks determined an anomaly in their clutch torque application procedure during the race start.

It was revealed that “the torque in the clutch at the start did not match the torque demand as the driver released the clutch within the specified 70 millisecond maximum period.”

For Raikkonen this time was measured at “approximately 200 milliseconds”, while for Giovinazzi the time was measured at “approximately 300 milliseconds.”

Raikkonen and Giovinazzi were handed 30-second time penalties, in lieu of a drive-through sanction, that relegated them outside of the points, in turn promoting Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica.

Alfa Romeo notified its intention to appeal and its case was held by the FIA in Paris on Tuesday, but its arguments were dismissed, meaning the race result stands, and the championship points remain as they were.

A short statement read: ""The Court, after having heard the parties and examined their submissions, decided to declare the appeals not admissible; to order the competent Sporting Authority to draw, as appropriate, the consequences of this ruling."

Hamilton, who inherited two points via Alfa Romeo’s penalty, thus still leads Valtteri Bottas by 65 points, with Kubica and Williams retaining their sole 2019 score.

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Todt yet to see "solid" new team interest for F1 2021

FIA president Jean Todt has played down talk that new teams are ready to join the Formula 1 grid as early as 2021, suggesting he had seen no "solid" contenders good enough to step in.

Although there are no formal plans at present to expand the field beyond the current 10 competitors, there have been rumours suggesting that at least one new team is serious about getting involved.

The Panthera Team Asia outfit, led by Benjamin Durand, ex-managing director of the SMP Racing sportscar operation, has told Motorsport.com that it wants to apply to join in 2021.

But speaking at the Singapore Grand Prix, Todt said that the FIA had not been in contact with any contender that it felt was at a good enough level to warrant the entries being opened.

“At the moment the good thing is we have 10 strong teams which in a way gives a good value to each team, which is important,” explained Todt. “They invest but still they have a strong asset in their hands. Then again it is a question of opportunity.

“At the moment we did not see any application of the level of Haas, for example, which was a new team. There are also possibilities some times like happened with Force India where you had Racing Point deciding to buy the team. So it all depends on the opportunities.

“At the moment we are happy in having ten teams. Time will tell if things will change in the future, knowing that the good figure is between 10 and 12 teams.”

Pushed further on the rumours about specific new teams, which have revolved around Panthera Asia, Todt replied: “I will be careful. I don’t consider talks or gossip or things like that. I am concrete. 

"At the moment I never heard, apart from some website talking about new teams, I never had any strong contact from a relevant solid team wishing to join F1.”

Last month, F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn suggested it would be wrong for the sport to open up for new teams before the new 2021 rules had been settled.

“We must learn from history, so many small teams came and went, and didn't really add to F1,” he said. "So I think we have to stabilise what we're introducing in 2021 and look at whether there is an opportunity for new teams."

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Haas plans to run only "hybrid" Melbourne spec in Russia

Haas hopes to put both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen on to its hybrid Melbourne-spec car for the Russian Grand Prix as part of its ongoing bid to get to the bottom of what’s gone wrong this year.

Grosjean was moved across to that version in Singapore, which features the floor, bargeboards and rear wing that Haas started the season with, along with latest sidepods and front wing.

The team only had one version of that package available last weekend, but now hopes to be able to shift Magnussen across as well for the Sochi event.

Asked by Motorsport.com what the plan was for after Singapore, team principal Gunther Steiner said: “It is a hybrid [now]. It is not the clear Australia spec any more, because we couldn’t do that as we would always need to change the chassis.

“Kevin’s car wasn’t slow [in Singapore] and we need to analyse both cars over the race, but at the moment the plan is that we go back to the spec Romain ran, with both cars. That was planned before already.”

Haas has decided that the hybrid Melbourne spec is its best solution because it has learned that developments it introduced since the start of the season failed to produce any step forward in performance.

Steiner has admitted that if Haas had used its latest car at the start of the season, it would not have delivered any more speed.

“It wouldn’t be any better,” he said. “There would maybe a different profile of how it works but it wouldn’t be any better.”

The problem has been traced back to a windtunnel correlation issue, where performance unlocked back at base is not delivered with the real car.

The team is now in a race against time to understand why that is, so that the problem is not repeated with its 2020 challenger.

“We are working on it,” added Steiner. “We know we have a problem but we think that we are getting there. We will do some testing during the year for the remaining races to find out why it is doing what it is doing or why this correlation issue is there.”

Asked if there was pressure to come up with the answer quickly, Steiner said:”Absolutely. I think if in the next two to four races we find something, we are still good.”

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Bottas: Mercedes can learn from breach of "clear procedure"

Valtteri Bottas says Mercedes needs to learn, forget and quickly move on from a Singapore Grand Prix weekend in which he was compromised by a qualifying mix-up.

While rival Ferrari enjoyed a resurgence in form to deliver a 1-2 finish, Mercedes had a more difficult weekend – with Bottas’ qualifying efforts compromised by teammate Lewis Hamilton, and then both drivers missing out on podium chances thanks to strategy calls in the race.

Bottas said that it is important that during a planned visit to the Mercedes factory on Tuesday the team goes through exactly what went wrong to ensure there is no repeat, but then must focus on getting things spot on in Russia.

“We’ll have a good review of the race,” he said. “As a team we’ll be again, as always, very open about everything that happened strategy-wise. Obviously with such a quick turnaround you can’t do much with the car. The only thing is pretty much with the set-up and maybe some small bits here and there.

“But it’s mainly taking the points to learn from this weekend and it’s going to be a weekend to learn and then forget and move on.

“We get to Russia and start from zero and try to remember those good feelings from years before. We need to try to find that same flow I’ve been able to find there before.”

One thing that can definitely be improved is avoiding the kind of situations that happened in qualifying, when Bottas found his preparation lap for qualifying compromised when he was overtaken by Hamilton.

Asked if Mercedes needs to change qualifying procedures, Bottas said: “Well we have a clear procedure and I was supposed to be ahead, but it didn’t happen.

“I think maybe there is something we can learn – if one of use wants to do [something different],” he said. “It’s still something that is quite tricky and I guess we’ll see in the future how it goes. But we have clear rules for that and that didn’t go as planned.

“Every qualifying is so different, and sometimes there is no issue at all to get the tyres to work – sometimes you actually want the tow. But it’s a special track [in Singapore] where you just want as big a gap as possible to the car ahead. There’s not much I can say about that.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is confident, however, that the qualifying matter can be easily resolved, and thinks what happened in Singapore came down to a confusing situation.

“I think the out-lap incident is something that was due to a miscommunication and is something we need to manage better in the future,” he said. “The miscommunication was that Valtteri was held up by [Alex] Albon, that Lewis didn't see.

“Lewis was thinking that Valtteri was doing a slow out-lap and Lewis felt that a quick out-lap would suit him better, and that's why he went for the gap, which is not how we've done it in the past.

“We talked about it immediately afterwards, and everything's okay, it's all in a good place. That had no effect on the race. I think there were many more powerful things that went wrong this weekend.”

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Racing Point: Abrupt stop saved Perez's engine

The Racing Point Formula 1 team believes that Sergio Perez’s engine has survived an oil leak that led to his retirement the Singapore GP, and thus the Mexican won’t face grid penalties in Russia.

Perez had a slow leak that the Mercedes engineers were monitoring closely, and which led eventually to a message asking the driver to stop trackside on lap 43, triggering the second safety car.

Perez took the latest spec Mercedes engine in Spa, only to suffer a failure with it in practice. As there were no spares available, he was obliged to switch to a new example of the earlier spec, which means that he has been slightly down on performance relative to the other Mercedes users for the last three races.

The Silverstone team is especially keen to avoid a grid penalty at Perez’s home race in Mexico, which is just two events away.

“We had an oil leak and had to pull the car over,” team principal Otmar Szafnauer told Motorsport.com. “We stopped it in time. The Mercedes guys had been tracking it during the race, because sometimes you get something that weeps and it stops, and it doesn’t matter.

“Because it was a slow-ish leak they could track it to the point of criticality and then say pull over now, otherwise we are going to get a penalty.”

Singapore saw Racing Point introduce the last in a series of aero upgrades that have together created a definitive new spec. Perez qualified 11th, but was compromised in qualifying by a five-place grid penalty. He was on course for points when he retired.

His teammate Lance Stroll didn’t make it out of Q1 after getting caught in traffic, but a strong run in the race was spoiled by a puncture, and he finished 13th.

Although Singapore ended in disappointment Szafnauer believes there’s more to come from the latest package.

“We had really good long-run pace, I think we were the fourth or fifth quickest team, which bodes well for the upgrade. Over one lap we had some difficulties. Lance was stuck in a group of people, and Sergio, not having the latest spec engine, was only 40/1000ths off making Q3. That’s not so bad.

“I think Checo could have finished seventh or eighth today, starting where he started, had it not been for the oil leak. Lance hit the wall and had a puncture. At the restart [Sebastian] Vettel bunched everybody up. It’s tight, you hit the wall, you get a puncture, you’re done.”

“And it was the first time we brought the definitive package, so there’s things to learn and to set up that could be better. I’m quite with where that’s out now, we just have to push forward and optimise that as we go along, have some good races, and then focus on next year.”

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Aussie drivers give the best interviews. Danny Ric is officially on another plane of consciousness from the rest of us.

https://streamable.com/ijf78

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Top drivers performing exceptionally in 2019 F1 season - Lewis Hamilton

Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton has praised the level of driving in Formula 1 this year, believing it has been among the best since he joined the sport.

Hamilton claimed his ninth victory of the season at last weekend’s Russian Grand Prix, ending a run of wins for Ferrari, and in the process strengthening his own title prospects.

Hamilton now leads the championship by 73 points with just five races remaining.

When asked whether it was now on his mind, Hamilton said: “I just don’t try to think about it.

“It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s pretty easy just to focus on the task in hand and it’s not easy at the moment so honestly just focusing on trying to be the best I can be each weekend, one race at a time and making sure I’m just delivering at a high rate.

“What’s really impressive is just to see how naturally we’re fighting against the Ferraris who have got great pace but Charles [Leclerc], Valtteri [Bottas], Seb [Vettel], Max [Verstappen], Carlos [Sainz Jr.], some of the other drivers are really performing so well.

“I think it’s one of the best years I’ve seen the drivers perform in terms of just class performances, so it’s meaning that everyone is having to raise their bar including myself.

“I’m enjoying that challenge and as I said, just one race at a time. The next one is going to be super hard to keep… to trying to beat these guys [Ferrari] again but not impossible as we’ve shown.”

Mercedes has not been beaten at Suzuka, venue for next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, since 2014, with Hamilton victorious in four out of the last five years.

But he is anticipating a fierce fight with Ferrari and the Honda-powered Red Bull outfit this time around.

“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “Suzuka is incredible, it’s one of the most exciting parts of the year and now so more than ever before because you’ve got three solid, incredibly fast teams, particularly pushing each other and having the ability, the potential to win a race.

“I have no idea who is going to be quickest there.

“Obviously, at the moment, Ferraris are quite dominant but maybe it will suit our car a little bit more, who knows? Or the Red Bull, maybe. So it’s exciting to go there because that’s a serious driver’s track, one of the best ones of the whole year.

“It’s proper grass and gravel and walls so it’s the ultimate test, I would say, that track, for the car and also for the driver. I just hope that we get to have a good race there.”

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McLaren dismisses notion of challenging front-runners in 2021

McLaren says it must be realistic with its ambitions for 2021, when it re-aligns itself with Mercedes, cautioning that it still faces a substantial gap to the front-runners.

McLaren has not won a race since 2012 while its most recent podium came in the season-opening round of 2014, which marked the start of the hybrid era.

Having slumped to ninth in 2015 and 2017 – when it was powered by Honda – and taken a dispiriting sixth last year, having expected more from its first year with Renault, it has made gains in 2019.

New recruit Carlos Sainz Jr. and rookie Lando Norris have ensured McLaren has surpassed the 100-point barrier for the first time since 2014, while it is poised to finish fourth in the Constructors’ standings.

Its switch from Renault to Mercedes power is a next step in its long-term recovery plan but boss Andreas Seidl has warned that it must not be overly ambitious too early into the programme.

“No, definitely not,” said Seidl when asked whether challenging Mercedes in 2021 was realistic.

“I think we need to be realistic. For us let’s say the next target is to make the next step next year.

“Hopefully we can jump somewhere in terms of performance and lap times between where we are now and the top teams, that would be a great step forward for next year.

“For 2021 onwards the new regulations are kicking in, but we need to be realistic, there’s still let’s say a lot of front-loading possible.

“The three top teams are not just there because of having more money, they simply do a better job also, and they will keep doing a better job, so for us it’s important make sure we take the next steps as a team to do simply a better job.

“Then it’s important that we all have the same resources, so it’s important to have the budget cap from 21 onwards, but it will still take time until it washes out and we actually all get to hopefully the same level playing field at some point.

“If we get everything right on our side, and keep working hard, we hopefully can challenge them at some point.”

Seidl also stressed that McLaren will not wane in its efforts with Renault until the conclusion of its partnership at the end of 2020.  

“It’s important to reiterate again, it’s still one and a half years away, this cooperation, our focus now is to finish off this season and to do a good next season together with Renault,” he said.

“We have still a great relationship with Renault, Renault is one of the reasons why we have this performance also this year, they made a great step, we have a good relationship with Cyril [Abiteboul] and the guys at Viry.

“For us it was important to make this decision and announce it, again it helps me inside the team to have clarity, which makes sure as a team we are focused on our main mission, which is to become a better team and produce a better race car.”