Hamilton dominates to win Singapore GP

Lewis Hamilton essentially leads flag-to-flag on the streets of Singapore.

With his biggest challenger (Nico Rosberg) never starting due to electrical issues, Lewis Hamilton used his dominant Mercedes car to easily win the Singapore GP over the Red Bull's of Sebastien Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

As a result of Rosberg getting zero points, Lewis Hamilton now leads the 2014 F1 champion points by 3 over Rosberg and 60 over Ricciardo in getting his 29th career F1 win.

With 10 laps to go Hamilton came out of the pits in 2nd place behind Vettel, but with fresher tires Hamilton needed just one lap to blow past Vettel and disappear off into the distance to win by 13.5 seconds.

The battle for 2nd was close with Vettel nursing his worn tires to hold off Ricciardo and Alonso in a nose-to-tail finish.

"I didn't have any tires left. I did everything I could," said Vettel on the radio to his team, while thanking Red Bull for a "great job".

Vettel said the safety car "was at the worst moment for us" and said the strategy afterwards was "borderline" so he's glad it worked.

Felipe Massa was 5th in the Williams-Mercedes some 26.7s behind Alonso, Jean-Eric Vergne (14.6s further back) in the Toro Rosso-Renault was sixth, Sergio Perez (2.2s further back) in the Force India-Mercedes was seventh, Kimi Raikkonen (1.6s further back) in the second Ferrari was eighth, Nico Hulkenberg (1.0s further back) in the second Force India was ninth and Kevin Magnussen (0.5s further back) in the McLaren-Mercedes took the final points position in tenth.

Felipe Massa said he had to crawl home for fifth in the Singapore Grand Prix after Williams decided not to bring him in for fresh tires during the safety car period.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]"After the safety car I was pushing, and then I was told that I had to finish the race on this set of tires," Massa said. "For me, that was a joke, it was impossible to finish the race on those tires. Then, I drove like a grandma from there to the end, and then somehow managed to finish the race in fifth place, so I'm happy! If I had changed the tires, I would have finished fifth anyway but closer to Fernando.

"[They told me] three laps after the restart, and there was still 25 laps to go. It's really a lot. I had to change my driving style but I was still quicker than everybody else behind. My opinion at that time is not the important thing, if we stopped we go back behind everybody. I didn't say 'I think it's wrong', I said 'I don't think it would be possible'."

"It was a good race, a great race. It was difficult to do a better result on this track than what I did, because Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull were all quicker than us, and then the team decided to not stop under the safety car and I wasn't sure whether that was the right thing to do. I feel sorry for Valtteri, he was behind me during the whole race. For me, yes it was the optimum. We finished in the best position we were supposed to finish."

Kimi Raikkonen said getting stuck behind the Williams cars in the Singapore Grand Prix was "f***ing up my tires".

After a strong start, Raikkonen was running in fifth place behind Daniel Ricciardo until the first round of pit stops when he was jumped by Felipe Massa. From that point on he lost touch with the leading four cars as he was unable to pass Massa and later dropped behind Valtteri Bottas, being backed in to a train of cars and eventually finished eighth.

"Most of the race I got stuck behind the Williams," Raikkonen said. "It was mainly Massa but then in the end with Bottas. I think we had a bit more speed than them but obviously you can't get past and then just driving behind it seems to affect us a lot. We even noticed in the past races that when you get close you lose all the downforce at the rear and you just destroy your tires.

"First of all you can't get close enough at the faster places to try to attack and then it ruins your tires. I just kept following the Williams the whole race – first [Massa] and then the other one – just f***ing up my tires so that was quite disappointing.

"It's hard to overtake them. I got close to them a few times but coming out of the faster corners I just lost the grip. If you don't get the proper jump on them you will never pass them in a straight line. It's a strong point of their car and here when you only have a few places to overtake it's very hard to get past them."

QUOTES

Red Bull-Renault

Sebastian Vettel (2nd): "It's a circuit I like here, the atmosphere's great and it's a tough event. I had a good start and got past Daniel and had a decent race. We played a bit with strategy after we got undercut by Alonso, the safety car came at the worst time for us but we made the tires work at the end which was tough. There was no point fighting Lewis at the end, he was on fresh tires and I had to manage mine to the end as they were pretty old by then; that was the focus. It was nice to get the cold champagne on the podium."

Daniel Ricciardo (3rd): "We were really close to the Mercedes in qualifying and we expected the race pace to be a bit faster today to be honest. We weren't quick enough in the first stint and we had a few other issues going on, with brakes and some power issues that were coming and going, but in terms of points we still got a good handful to take away from here. It actually feels a bit like a home race here. Singapore to Perth is like Melbourne to Perth, so for West Australians it's not too far. Suzuka is in two weeks and that's another track we can be optimistic for, so I'm looking forward to that. All in all it was a solid weekend."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "A tremendous performance by both drivers. After an interesting start, Fernando had to give back the position to Sebastian, but unfortunately not Daniel also, and after that it was all about getting into the race. We went onto the soft tire at the first stop, by the time we got to the second, Fernando had got the undercut on us, so we went onto the different tire to change the strategy. Then the pace car came out and we were in a horrible situation of having to decide if the tire could make it to the end, but the drivers did an incredible job today, and got the cars to the finish on what must have been minimal rubber by the end. So, second and third is a great team performance, especially with the double pit stop during the race which was done in an exceptional time."

Thierry Salvi, Renault: "A difficult race today but we got the most we could have expected with a double podium. Sebastian had to fight from the beginning of the race, pushing to get the maximum of the car while keeping the tire degradation under control. He managed very well until the end of the race and second place is a great result for him and the team. Daniel had reliability issues with his power unit and had to manage the energy management in very tricky situations. He again proved his ability to stay calm and focused, even in difficult situations, and stayed very quick. Once again reliability is the key point and we suffered this weekend. The car has the potential to win and we need to work harder to deliver it in the final races of the season."

Mercedes GP

Lewis Hamilton (1st): "It was great to come here after winning in Monza and start the final leg of the season with such a competitive car. It would have been a really hardcore race if Nico had been at the front, as we clearly had the pace. It was all running pretty comfortably until the Safety Car came out, which gave me some problems. I was driving hard to build the gap but then the tires started dropping off and I wasn't sure what to do – keep pushing or back off to look after them. So we pitted straight away and I came out behind Seb. But I knew they were on a two-stop strategy and that his tires were old. I went for it down the back straight – the gap was pretty small and maybe I could have chosen another point on the circuit. But I luckily squeezed through and made it stick. Of course, it's not an ideal result with Nico retiring, so that shows we still have work to do to get on top of reliability. But it's been a great job from the team at everyone at the factories to make this mega car. Now we need to keep pushing hard for Japan in two weeks' time."

Nico Rosberg (DNF, Electronics): "The problems with my steering wheel began in the garage even before the race and it was a difficult moment when I couldn't pull away from the grid – the car didn't get out of neutral. When I left the pit-lane, I was only able to change gear – there was no radio, no DRS and reduced Hybrid power. We were hoping that the systems might come back to life, like the radio did, and that we could change the situation. But after we changed the wheel another time, we had to retire the car. It was a tough day for me and unfortunately another reliability problem for the team. It was at least something good for the team that Lewis was able to take the win. Now we need to analyze what happened and to optimize everything further because reliability is our issue this year."

Paddy Lowe: "That was a bittersweet afternoon for the team – a fantastic win for Lewis tempered by disappointment at the technical problem with Nico's car. Although we have not yet fully understood the causes, Nico suffered an electronic problem within his steering column. This manifested itself on his laps to the grid and we changed the steering wheel on the grid in the hope this might resolve the issue. But it became clear as soon as he started the race that only his gear change paddles were working. This meant he had no control over the clutch, or the many different functions he manages from the steering wheel. Among other things, he had significantly reduced energy deployment, which meant he couldn't pass even the slower cars he encountered. At the pit stop, the car became stuck in neutral and we decided to retire because we judged that the mechanism required to restart would have been too dangerous. I can only offer my commiserations and apologies to Nico. On the other side of the garage, Lewis delivered a fantastic performance. The pace was strong and our tire endurance better than that of our competitors. We were backed into a corner by the Safety Car at the mid-point of the race, when others decided to go to the end on the prime tire. But we stuck to our guns, made the right strategy call to stay out and Lewis did the rest. We had hoped to pull the full pit-stop gap over Vettel before Lewis made his final stop but the tires didn't quite last long enough. That left Lewis with a little work to do when he emerged from the pits, but he enjoyed a significant performance advantage on fresh tires and made a good pass into Turn 7. It was a very controlled drive and a hard-earned win."

Toto Wolff, Mercedes Motorsport Director: "What an incredible race from Lewis. After the Safety Car came in, it needed qualifying laps every time round to build the gap – and he did that faultlessly. These are the days when drivers like Lewis show what makes the difference between star drivers and the superstar drivers. Congratulations to him. On the other side, it was a bitter afternoon for Nico. It looks like a loom in the steering column failed and that was the root of his problems. When he came back to the garage, I told him we were sorry to have let him down – and he handled the whole situation in a very professional way. We have a missile of a car this year but these reliability issues keep tripping us up. The parts will be sent back to base tonight for forensic analysis by our reliability group. We have an excellent team dedicated to quality and we will track down this failure and make sure it does not happen again. Looking at the Championship, the pressure is now on for both drivers with such a small gap and five races to go. It will give us a few more grey hairs – but it's great for the fans of Formula One."

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso (4th): "With hindsight, it's easy to ask oneself how things would have gone if I hadn't made a mistake at the start and the Safety Car hadn't come out when it did, but overall I'm pleased with this weekend, because we were competitive and were able to fight with the front runners. Sometimes, a Safety Car can help but I think that today on this front, we were a bit unlucky, because at that moment, we were trying to make sure of second place and our strategy was good. We didn't have much of an alternative, because if we had stayed out, the probability was that the stop for the Softs would have cost us more places. Even if in the end, I wasn't able to get past, the fact we were competitive right to the finish confirms we have made a step forward. Now, in Suzuka, a real circuit, we will have a clearer picture of where we are."

Kimi Raikkonen (8th): "Today's race was really frustrating, because despite the fact we were quick, we weren't able to finish where we wanted. My start was good, I moved up a few places and everything was working perfectly. After the first stop, I lost a place to Felipe and from then on, I found myself stuck behind a Williams for the entire race. Unfortunately, every time I managed to get close, I lost aero performance on the rear and on top of that, tire degradation was very high. It's a real shame I was never able to run my race, even if we already knew that straight-line speed is our opponents' strong point. I'm not happy with eighth place, but on the positive side, we have seen improvements this weekend. I'm sure that if, from now on, we don't have problems, things will go better."

Marco Mattiacci, Team Principal: "Today's race could have delivered us a better result, because thanks to a quick response from the team after the disappointing outcome of the Grand Prix in Monza, we were competitive all weekend long. Our pace was good and thanks to the strategy, with Fernando we managed to run second, but it later slipped from our grasp during the course of the race. Kimi was held up by traffic and slowed with tire degradation and, although he got a good start, he was unable to retake the places he had made up. The variable of the Safety Car altered our strategy projections, affecting the outcome of the race. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that the only strategy for winning is to be able to count on a competitive car. Now we leave Singapore having shown signs of progress: on this front, Suzuka will provide a very interesting test bench, because it will allow us to go deeper into our development work in areas in which we want to improve."

Pat Fry: "Here in Singapore, the performance of the two F14 Ts was a pleasant surprise, as we have never been as close to the front runners this season. The technical characteristics of the track, our development work, the talent of our drivers and the way our car worked on the softer tires are just some of the elements that explain our good form this weekend. While very encouraging, it was still not enough to achieve the team's objectives and it was a real shame to see second place slip from our grasp with Fernando because of the Safety Car. Unfortunately, with Kimi we didn't manage to get the most out of the car: he had the potential to get a better result, if hadn't been for Massa undercutting him and then, even though he was on fresher tires, he did not have the top speed to pass Bottas on the straight. Like Monaco, this is a track where it's hard to overtake and the arrival of the Safety Car can jumble up the order. Now, in Suzuka, we will have another opportunity and once again, we will try and fight the Red Bulls and especially the Williams in the Constructors' Championship."

Lotus-Renault

Pastor Maldonado (12th): "We got the maximum out of our performance today and we had a strong consistent race. I'm pretty happy about this after the issues we had earlier in the weekend. I pitted once more than the others during the safety car period but it didn't affect my position. It was a tough race, especially the last ten laps where the tires needed a lot of managing, but I think we were able to do a great race today."

Romain Grosjean (13th): "It was hot out there; things were looking pretty alright until the safety car, we were fighting for points. Unfortunately, I tried to attack too hard on the restart. I wanted to give it everything and with cold soft tires after a slow safety car period, it was just too much once at the corner. From then on, I couldn't pass back up through the field to get points."

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "We were very close to scoring points with Pastor and Romain today. Unfortunately we couldn't convert the potential into reality in the end but the team did a great job to get both cars to finish the race after the difficulties that we had through the course of the weekend. So I'm happy. Not rock and roll, but happy."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "Unfortunately we didn't have the pace to challenge for points today but we were very close, closer than we have been for a long time. The safety car period obviously influenced our race strategy so it's hard to say what the maximum could have been were it not for that. We're pleased with the improvement of the E22 which we hope to be able to harness in the next races."

Simon Rebreyend, Renault: "After the disappointment of yesterday, the Power Unit performed well today, with no issues at all, which is the minimum requirement for every weekend. The drivers were therefore able to show a much more representative pace in the race and could race the Saubers, Force Indias and Toro Rossos. This is much more where we should be and gives confidence for the next race in Suzuka."

McLaren-Mercedes

Kevin Magnussen (10th): "It was a very, very tough grand prix. During the race, I don't know if there was something wrong with the car, but my seat started getting very hot, which made things extremely uncomfortable for me. Without that, I think we could have done better than 10th, but at least we got that one point. It's better than nothing. It was the hardest point I've ever earned."

Jenson Button (DNF, Power unit): "I was cueing things up for the end of the grand prix: I'd been looking after the tires for the whole stint, and I knew the last five laps were when things were going to get tricky for Valtteri ahead of me. I'd just switched the car into a different mode, and the chase was starting to get quite exciting. Then, a few corners later, the car just died going into the hairpin. Going across the bridge, it just turned off, so I had to stop. I'd been really looking forward to the end of the race, because I definitely think I'd have got past Valtteri. But it just didn't work out – I was pretty unlucky."

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "To score just a single world championship point, after two hours' toil in intense heat and humidity, is of course extremely disappointing for the entire team. For Jenson, who was driving exceptionally well in seventh place, cleverly optimizing a tricky two-stop strategy, to be forced to retire with power box failure was an especially bitter blow. For Kevin, who had driven such an excellent qualifying lap here yesterday, this afternoon was grueling; there's no other word. His first stint was satisfactory, but in stint two he began to experience tire degradation to a greater degree than we'd predicted, forcing us to convert his strategy from a two-stopper to a three-stopper. To add injury to insult, he was then subjected to severe bodily discomfort as his car's cockpit began to overheat, necessitating his holding his arms aloft, first one then another, in an effort to direct cooling air down his sleeves and inside his race-suit, which was an unusually painful complication for him. In the end, after an impressively plucky drive in extremely challenging conditions, he was able to score a single point for the team. It was scant consolation, of course it was, but it's indicative of his tremendous fighting spirit, and I commend him for it."

Force India-Mercedes

Sergio Perez (7th): "The race really had everything for me and the final laps were very enjoyable. I was very happy with our performance today and, most importantly, we finished ahead of our direct competitors. Those in front of me at the end had big tire degradation, but this affected me as well. When I caught the train ahead I didn't have much grip either and this made each one of the overtakes a bit more difficult. We managed our tires perfectly and to go from P15 to P7 was the reward we deserved. It was a great result for the team; they did a fantastic job with the strategy and it worked very well for both Nico and me. Today was one of those results where the race gives you a fantastic feeling: it's more than just scoring the points – it's about how you gained the result. Everything gets thrown at you but you don't give up and come back strongly to get the points."

Nico Hulkenberg (9th): "It's good to be in the points and from a team perspective it's been a successful day. This is always a difficult race, especially from a strategic point of view, and maybe we could have achieved even more today. After the safety car I had to do a 30-lap stint on the soft tires and like most of the cars ahead I was running out of grip towards the end of the race. With hindsight it would have been better to pit again for fresh tires and we probably could have finished even higher up, but it's always a difficult decision for the team with the information we had at the time. The good news is that we got two cars home in the points."

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: "To come away from Singapore with eight points in our pocket and fifth place in the championship is a fantastic result. It was an eventful race, especially for Checo, and it was only in the closing laps that the race came back to us. We had to make some difficult decisions on the pit wall today, but I think on the whole we made the right ones. There was a bit of luck, too, but we made the most of our opportunities and Checo and Nico drove extremely well. It sets us up well for the final five races where it's crucial that we continue to score well with both cars."

Sauber-Ferrari

Adrian Sutil (DNF. Water leak): "It is very frustrating to retire again due to a technical failure. Today we were in a good position to score points. It was a difficult race, as we had problems with the engine at the beginning. However, we were able to fix it and continue with our planned strategy. Regarding the contact with Sergio (Perez), there is not much to say besides that suddenly he drove into the back of the car. Luckily the car was not damaged."

Esteban Gutierrez (DNF, Power Unit): "There is not much to say about the race. At the moment it is almost impossible to achieve good results. We have to extract 120 percent from what we have, but with these issues we are having it makes things complicated. There is nothing that I can do to guard against these problems at the moment. We have to look forward to the next races and need to take every chance that we get. Keep fighting will be the most important objective for us as a team at the moment."

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "That was a very disappointing race. Esteban particularly was in a good position, but he was forced to retire from the race once again due to a problem with the power unit. As Adrian's car had a water leak, the team decided to retire him from the race so not to risk an engine failure. We now have to analyze the reason for this."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "Sadly once more our race finished before the checkered flag due to reliability issues. On Esteban's car there was, once again, an electrical problem with the power unit. Adrian experienced a water leak which forced us to stop him as a precautionary measure so not to damage the engine. Before that the race itself was going more or less the way we were expecting. Esteban was on a two stop strategy, but his race ended too early to know whether it would have worked. Adrian was on a three stop strategy, and I think we played it well during the safety car period in order to bring him back into the race, but then he had to stop. This was one of the races where we tried to cover all different possibilities, and in this sense everything was going according to plan. In the past we have seen that just getting the car to the finish line can be rewarded, but in this we failed, due to the reliability issues."

Toro Rosso-Renault

Jean-Eric Vergne (6th): "It feels great. It was a fantastic race and I'm extremely happy, especially considering the two 5 second penalties. I had to push as much as possible in the last laps and pull away and this is what I've done. I had a lot of fun overtaking the ones in front of me, an incredible race. I did a mistake yesterday in Qualifying and I said to the team that I would have done everything for them to forgive me today and I think I could manage it in the end. So I'm really happy also for the guys, they gave me a good car and the 6th place repays their big effort, we deserved it. I'm really confident we can have a good end of the season together and I'm looking forward to Japan, where we also have some updates. Hopefully we can improve even further."

Daniil Kvyat (14th): "It was a very tough race today in which I had to fight more with myself than with the cars around me. The car was quite difficult to drive and it was sliding a lot. It was also hard work to take care of the tires. Unfortunately I also had a problem with my drink system, so I was without water for the whole race, which definitely made it a much tougher race. I think points could have been possible, so well done to JEV, who did a great job today!"

Phil Charles, Chief Race Engineer: "We are very, very pleased! JEV drove an absolutely fantastic race. He had to deal with two 5 second penalties, but having taken his first, with the second we knew the time would be added on at the end, so we kept him informed of the gap to those behind him, after he pulled off some brilliant passing moves and he managed to finish more than the 5 seconds ahead of the seventh placed driver, so he keeps his sixth place. He did absolutely everything right. The team worked very well today and everything generally went to plan, with the strategy working out well, so we are all very happy for JEV. He has been due a decent result, because he's been doing a good job this year, but has had more than his share of bad luck. Daniil was particularly unlucky as he had a drinks bottle problem right from the start, so it was a physically very difficult race for him, as he was unable to drink and was getting dehydrated from quite early on. We're sorry for him that we had that kind of problem, as it compromised his race."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault: "An amazing result for JEV, who fought back hard from qualifying and two penalties during the race. Daniil struggled without hydration in this very physical race and did well to get to the end. The Power Unit worked well over the race and energy management on JEV's car in particular was very good, allowing him to use his newer tires at the end to gain so many positions. It was a perfect finish for a difficult weekend."

Williams-Mercedes

Felipe Massa (5th): "We changed the strategy from a three-stop to a two-stop after the long safety car period, and the final stint was pushing the tire to the absolute limit but I managed to make it work. The grip levels were very low in the final few laps but I had a big enough gap to sixth place to ease the car home. Given the nature of the track, fifth was probably the best position we could have hoped for this weekend, but I am of course disappointed for the team that Valtteri's tires were not able to hold on until the end."

Valtteri Bottas (11th): "Valtteri Bottas: After the safety car we moved to a two-stop strategy and in the end the tires just weren't able to hold on. In the final lap I had a big lock up in the rear tires when I was defending and after that I had no grip and cars could easily sweep past. I also had an issue with the power steering in the final stint and this made it harder to keep the tires alive as I lost a lot of feeling in the car. If I hadn't had this issue then I might have been able to go until the end. Obviously I'm disappointed not to finish in the points but we can take a lot of positives from this weekend as we looked competitive at a track that is less suited to our car and we have kept third place in the Constructors' Championship."

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: "We knew it was going to be damage limitation this weekend and on balance we should be pleased with the result as up until the final few corners, we were set to score the same number of points as our nearest rivals in the Championship. We took a calculated risk with the strategy and this succeeded for Felipe as it kept him ahead of Raikkonen who had a faster car, but with Valtteri it didn't pay off as he ran out of tires on the final lap which cost him sixth place. The drivers did a magnificent job behind the wheel and the team has operated very well all weekend. We are heading to tracks that will suit our car more now and we have maintained our third place in the Championship which was the objective at the beginning of the weekend."

Caterham-Renault

Marcus Ericsson (15th): "What a race! One of the best of my season so far, I have no doubt about it. I'm very pleased and happy for the whole team – this result is a great way of saying thank you for all the hard work and effort they put in yesterday. We can be very happy as we beat our closest rivals fair and square after having struggled quite a lot to keep up with them this weekend. We maximized our performance today. We followed a great strategy and I didn't make any mistakes. I'm very pleased but we have to carry on working as hard as ever in order to build on this and make progress every race. We decided to stay out on the Prime tires and I knew that Bianchi was going to catch me as he pitted in front of me, so I prepared myself as best as possible for the final four laps. I managed the tires well and kept him behind. A great effort!"

Kamui Kobayashi (DNF, Engine): "What a frustrating way to end the race weekend here in Singapore. During the formation lap, all of a sudden I felt no power and then it smelt as if something was burning. Then I suddenly lost the brakes so I decided to stop the car because it was dangerous and I had nothing to do. I was really looking forward to this race and it's a shame not to have been able to get out there and fight, but this happens sometimes in motorsport unfortunately."

Manfredi Ravetto, Team Principal: "It's ended up being a very positive weekend here in Singapore. We've managed to beat Sauber from a reliability point of view as well as beating Marussia out on track for the second race weekend in a row. We are definitely on our way up. I would like to thank every single member of the team, both here on track and back at the factory in Leafield – we've all worked very hard and I am proud of the whole team."

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault: "A great result for the team, with Marcus finishing ahead of both Marussias. From our side, however, it was not the most straightforward race. Unfortunately Kamui lost the CU-H at the start of the formation lap and had to stop. We need to look at why this happened in more detail back at Viry. Marcus also had some issues with the energy management system, so it was not optimal from a performance perspective. Nevertheless, we finished ahead of both of our closest rivals, which is a fantastic team effort."

Marussia-Ferrari

Jules Bianchi (16th): "Today was not the easiest of days for us, but at least there were some positives to take away. We were closer to the Lotus of Maldonado and also to the Sauber of Sutil, so at least we are back to a more typical delta to those teams on this type of circuit. It is disappointing that we were unable to get past Ericsson due to brake wear issues. It was quite a demanding race as there were a lot of factors that we had to manage, particularly the brakes. The safety car after Perez's accident brought the pack back together so any advantage was lost, particularly as we struggled on the prime tire."

Max Chilton (17th): "A tough and complicated race, which also had its fair share of bad luck. I had a stall in the pit lane at the start of the reconnaissance lap and had to return to the garage. I got a good start and almost got Ericsson, then lost time to him when, unusually, Rosberg got past and stayed between us for quite a chunk of the first stint. I made my first pit stop and then had to come in again soon after, when we suffered a puncture due to a valve issue on the front right wheel. This upset our strategy as we switched to the prime tire earlier than expected. The problem was made worse when the Safety Car came out halfway through the race at a point where I was unable to benefit and that left us compromised for the final stint on the option."

John Booth, Team Principal: "Today's race was every inch the tough challenge we anticipated, so first and foremost all credit to the drivers and the team for their tremendous efforts in managing all the aspects of the race. Overall, not the result we wanted. At most points in the race we were much stronger than Caterham, however our performance on the prime tire under the safety car was by far our most limiting factor, by having to complete a three-stop race versus their two-stops. Both cars suffered problems in the race, Jules with brake wear issues and Max with a puncture that can be traced to a valve issue."

Claudio Albertini, Ferrari: "The start of the weekend was not easy as Max suffered a powertrain issue on Friday. Fortunately, things improved, as we then had no more reliability problems with Max or Jules. During the race, because of the hot and humid conditions, we started to experience a bit of difficulty with the temperature, but then everything went okay and we finished the race without any problems. We know that this specific track, which is similar to Monaco, presents some different challenges to a typical race circuit, so throughout the weekend we had to cope with this, but I think that overall performance was satisfactory."

Mark Cipolloni reporting

Results

Pos	Driver	Car	Behind
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	0.000s
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull/Renault	13.534s
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	14.273s
4	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	15.389s
5	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	42.161s
6	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso/Renault	56.801s
7	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	59.038s
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m00.641s
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m01.661s
10	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Mercedes	1m02.230s
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m05.065s
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Renault	1m06.915s
13	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Renault	1m08.029s
14	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m12.008s
15	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham/Renault	1m34.188s
16	Jules Bianchi	Marussia/Ferrari	1m34.543s
17	Max Chilton	Marussia/Ferrari	1 Lap
DNF	Jenson Button	McLaren/Mercedes	Retirement
DNF	Adrian Sutil	Sauber/Ferrari	Retirement
DNF	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber/Ferrari	Retirement
DNF	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Retirement
DNF	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham/Renault	Not started