REPORT: So close to points in Singapore

Franco Colapinto finished in P11 after Alex Albon was forced into an early retirement, as the team came tantalisingly close to a points finish at the Singapore Grand Prix.

An unusually incident-free Singapore Grand Prix – the first not to feature a Safety Car – saw various strategies at play, though the one-stop was the option favoured by most front-runners.

Franco went long on his medium tyres, pitting from P6 on lap 31 for hard tyres. He was undercut by Sergio Perez however, and couldn't overhaul the deficit in the remainder of the race – despite maintaining pace with the Red Bull for the duration.

Alex, meanwhile, suffered from PU overheating after boxing early, and his car was retired on Lap 16.

Franco was frustrated after the race, saying, “it’s a pity we didn’t finish in the top 10 after being there at the beginning of the race. I think it was possible to stay in the points and keep [Checo] Pérez behind with it being a difficult track to overtake.

“However, we didn’t defend as well as we could have and by stopping a lap too late, we lost a place. It is what it is, and we win and lose together as a team.

“Tyre management was good throughout the race, but I was struggling a bit physically which was more of a limiting factor. Overall, P11 was still a decent result, and it was a very positive race to build on what I’ve learned so far.”

Alex meanwhile was understandably disappointed with his own outcome, adding, “it’s unfortunate to finish today how we did when I believe we had a car that could’ve scored points this weekend. Ultimately, a cooling issue with the power unit ended our race, however after a difficult start being forced a little wide, it would’ve been difficult to come back from there.

“Sometimes you have a car that isn’t capable of scoring points so when you do, it’s very satisfying, but this weekend was the opposite; we had a super quick car and we should’ve been in the points, so it’s frustrating. We will review everything and see how we can improve for the remaining races.“

Meanwhile, Sporting Director Sven Smeets had the following to say; “We were hoping for more today as we had a strong car so it’s a shame to come away without points.

“After Franco’s single pitstop we lost P10 to [Checo] Pérez, Franco stayed close to him and [Nico] Hülkenberg but was unable to make a pass into the points. Nevertheless, Franco ran a solid weekend in extremely tough conditions in only his third grand prix and we are pleased with his performance.

“In terms of Alex’s race, it’s always disappointing when you have to retire a car; we experienced some cooling issues but need to assess this in the coming days. It’s clear that we have brought performance to the car with the upgrades over the past few races, but we didn’t get it all right as a team this weekend to score points for a third time in a row.

“We will now use this small break in the calendar to regroup ahead of the next triple header as there is still a lot to play for.”

Focus now will turn to the United States Grand Prix, with the team able to use four weeks back at base for a short break, reset, and recovery, before the final stint of the season.