Ferrari 'did its best' in Singapore
Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci had no complaints about the Scuderia's performance in the Singapore Grand Prix, but insists that it still cannot be satisfied.
Fernando Alonso remained in the hunt for a podium finish through the shortened 60-lap encounter, briefly taking second place at the start before taking to the turn one run-off, and then getting the undercut on Sebastian Vettel midway through the race.
On both occasions, the Red Bull man got back ahead, first when Alonso ceded the position for fear of a penalty and, secondly, by reworking his own pit-strategy. The Ferrari also dropped to fourth behind the second RB10 of Daniel Ricciardo as the Scuderia opted to pit under the safety car and, despite having fresher tyres, Alonso could not regain a top three spot before the end.
Kimi Raikkonen finished eighth in the second car after losing tyre performance while stuck in traffic.
"The safety car didn't do the best for us, but the race is made up of 61 laps so that's the result," Mattiacci commented, "We squeezed the car as much as we could, the strategy from the pits was excellent and there are other variables we know we cannot control, so we did our best today."
Asked whether the result could spark a late-season resurgence, starting in Japan in two weeks' time, Mattiacci was coy, admitting that there was still a long way to go before Ferrari could be considered a true frontrunner.
"I think it is important before thinking about Japan to properly analyse what we did here and what could have been done better," he explained, "We have seen quite a good improvement from the car, [which was] almost on the same pace as Red Bull, but the goal is to win here, not catch up with the others, so it is too early to think about Japan."
