Singapore: Sahara Force India scored four points in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix as Sergio Perez raced from P17 to P8 as the only driver to execute what was effectively a one-stop strategy. Nico Hulkenberg was the victim of a first lap incident, which eliminated him at the start. The points scored tonight move the team back up to fourth position in the constructors’ championship.
Meanwhile, starting his 200th Grand Prix from pole position, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg went on to win his 22nd GP and reclaimed the advantage in the drivers’ championship, his win taking him to 273 points and an eight-point lead over team-mate Lewis Hamilton (265 points) who finished third.
Speaking after the win, Sergio Perez said: “I am so happy about tonight’s performance; it surely ranks as one of the best races in my career. To be able to do 36 laps on one set of soft tyres, in this heat, and to keep my position under pressure from Kvyat is a big achievement. Pitting on lap one put us behind Gutierrez and that impacted on our strategy: we lost a lot of time behind him and it was very hard on my tyres, which was not good for what was effectively a one-stop race. We knew stopping one time less than our rivals was the only way we could score points, so managing the tyres was crucial.”
“There was no point fighting with Fernando [Alonso] after his last stop: he was in a different race and I knew I couldn’t afford to destroy my tyres that early in the stint. It was the same with Max [Verstappen] – on a day like this I had to race intelligently and pick my fights to make the strategy work. It’s a good result for the team and it puts us back in fourth place in the championship. It’s a shame that Nico’s race finished so early, but we were able to score some good points on a difficult night,” he said.
Nico Hülkenberg said, “It’s extremely disappointing to end my race in the barrier after just 50 metres, especially because I had made such a good start – probably my best getaway off the line this year. I went for the gap between the two Toro Rossos, which was there, but obviously things got very tight. I had Daniil [Kvyat] on my right and Carlos [Sainz] on my left, and Carlos hit my left rear, which sent me into the wall. I think all the avoiding actions led to the gap I was in disappearing. So it was a really frustrating end for me, especially because all the good work we did on Friday and Saturday counted for nothing.”
