Singapore: Daniel keeps his cool for season-best fifth

Daniel uses a strong start and a stellar strategy to bag 10 world championship points following a difficult qualifying on the streets of Marina Bay.

Race data
Singapore (Round 17 of 22), 2 October 2022
Marina Bay Street Circuit, 61 laps, 5.063km
Qualified: 17th (started 16th after engine penalty for Russell/Mercedes)
Finished: 5th
Laps per position: 21 laps (5th), 4 laps (6th), 1 lap (9th), 13 laps (10th), 14 laps (12th), 6 laps (13th)
Pit stops/tyres: Lap 36 (intermediate/soft)
Fastest lap: 1:51.006 (12th, lap 57)
Points this event: 10
Points this season: 29 (11th in world championship)

Daniel's download
"I'm pleased – and relieved – after that one. It's been a long year, that's no secret. I hadn't had a top-five result since Saudi Arabia last year, so I'm happy for myself and the team, especially the guys on my side of the garage. We've gone through a lot this year, so I'm pleased for everyone who helps make it happen.

"My start was really good, it set my race up to some degree. I saw a replay and I got pretty close to hitting Zhou (Guanyu), my start was nearly too good! Lap 1 was fun, you don't see much but it's fun amongst the chaos. I remembered afterwards that I was side-by-side with Max (Verstappen) on the Anderson Bridge, and there's not that much more room than two cars there! The spray was enough to be bad anyway, but a wet street circuit … that's gnarly because the concentration you need is so high. Mentally, it was as tough as it always is here, if not tougher because you're trying to navigate a track that was never really suitable for slicks and changing all the time. The race being pushed back another hour to allow the weather to improve … it was a long old night!

"Choosing not to go on the slicks too early as the track began to dry was what helped me in the end. It's easy to get tempted when you're around 10th, 11th or so – you kind of want to be a hero and go to slicks early, but I wasn't convinced it was better. George (Russell) was on the slicks and it was taking him a long time to get down to my lap times on the inters. I wasn't that quick on the inter, but we decided to keep hanging it out. (Pierre) Gasly wasn't that quick on slicks either, so we elected to be patient. We know as well that when you do that, it can open up a safety car window … so that all played out nicely for us.

"I went with the soft tyre once we went to slicks to cover off the cars behind me, basically. (Race engineer) Tom (Stallard) mentioned that, and he said the race would also likely be shorter than the 61 laps that it was scheduled to run for, we'd get to the two-hour time limit before we got to 61 laps. Knowing that would likely buy me a couple of laps we elected to go with the soft and then manage track position once I had it. It all worked out … for locking in fifth, that was the right thing to do.

"It was a big day for the team with Lando (Norris) fourth and me fifth with Alpine not scoring at all, so we passed them in the constructors' again. So as much as I'm looking forward to Japan, I want to enjoy this one. It's important for all of us to get a good result, we needed this and it was a big day for the team. Finally everyone can be in good spirits."

How Daniel's race unfolded
* Started 16th, passed Schumacher/Haas, Bottas/Alfa Romeo and Zhou/Alfa Romeo to end Lap 1 in 13th place.
* Advanced to 12th after Magnussen/Haas pitted on Lap 7.
* Promoted to 10th after Alonso/Alpine retired and Tsunoda/AlphaTauri ran wide on Lap 21.
* Advanced to ninth when Gasly/AlphaTauri pitted on Lap 33.
* Pitted under safety car on Lap 36 and re-joined in fifth on soft tyres.
* Passed by Verstappen/Red Bull on Lap 37, fell to sixth.
* Reclaimed fifth when Verstappen pitted on Lap 40.
* Finished fifth after 59 of scheduled 61 laps (race reached two-hour time limit), finishing 53secs behind race-winner Perez/Red Bull, and 3secs ahead of Stroll/Aston Martin in sixth.

Next race
Round 18: Japan (Suzuka), 9 October
Last race (2019): qualified 16th, finished 7th, disqualified post-race for Renault brake system illegality
Career: 9 races, 1 podium, 48 points, 5 points finishes
Best finish: 3rd (2017)
Japan highlights: Daniel has finished inside the top 10 on his past four visits to Suzuka, but was disqualified from seventh place in the most recent Japanese GP three years ago after a post-race stewards decision. Charged from 15th on the grid to fourth for Red Bull Racing in 2018, the year after his best qualifying and race result in Japan (third from third on the grid). Finished inside the points for 10th place 10 years ago for Toro Rosso in what was a significant race in his fledgling F1 career, holding off a faster Michael Schumacher in a Mercedes in the closing laps in only his 26th F1 start. Has finished all nine races he's started at Suzuka.