Zoom 15th to first tonight for Alonso in Singapore

Fernando Alonso claimed his 20th Grand Prix win in style this evening in Singapore from Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The top three take questions from the media.

Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) Fernando, was this weekend the turning point for Renault in its progress towards the front again on a consistent basis and does this result and the weekend change your thinking about next year?
FA: I don’t know but we will find out very quickly in Fuji because we cannot forget that this is a very special track, a street circuit like Monaco, corner after corner, second gear, third gear, so very slow, slippery asphalt and I think on a normal circuit we can realise the potential of the car a little bit better than on a street circuit, where it’s more about the set-up than how lucky and risky the laps are. We keep improving the car, as I said before. We started the season quite far away from pole position and from the top teams and now we are much closer, so we are definitely one of the teams who have most improved their car but maybe it was not difficult because at the beginning of the season we were not at the right level.

Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) Lewis, it was obviously a race with lots of drama and a terrible evening for Ferrari but you’ve now extended your lead to seven points. You must be pretty delighted with that, even though the race maybe didn’t pan out exactly how you wanted it.
LH: Yes, definitely. I honestly can’t complain. We qualified second, put in quite a good lap to get me in that position. We were competitive throughout the first stint with the safety car, again, we were fortunate to come out, the team did a great job to get me out, again, no problems. As I said, it was just a bit unfortunate to be stuck behind… stuck in traffic. Nevertheless, to have a podium finish in the first Singapore night race is a great result and good points, so I really can’t complain. I’m quite happy with seven points.

Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) We heard Fernando talking eloquently about the experience of driving here in the race. Could we just have your thoughts on this first night race on this historic evening for Formula One?
LH: To be honest, during the race it felt pretty much like all the races do. It felt like we were in the daylight. I didn’t particularly notice it was night time, but the track and the facilities here have been phenomenal all weekend. They really have done an amazing job, so to be honest I am very, very proud of the job they’ve done. Unfortunately it’s a little bit difficult to overtake on this circuit. However, it still makes a real challenge for all the drivers. As I said, a good result to come here for the first time and score points, finish on the podium and I hope that we can come again next year, I look forward to it, and hopefully we can try to win next year.