Nico Hülkenberg: There may be surprises in the race

      Sauber are pleased with the qualifying results — the drivers got the maximum out of the car…

      Jonathan Whitley, team principal: “The qualifying session in Singapore, held in hot and humid conditions, left a positive impression.

      Gabriel qualified 16th, racing on this track for the first time and without the chance to properly work with the tyres during practice — that’s an encouraging result. On the other side of the garage Nico put in a strong and calm session with clean laps, finishing only 0.065 seconds from Q3. Starting 11th with an additional set of new Soft tyres, he is in a great position to fight for points tomorrow.”

      Nico Hülkenberg (11th): “I’m happy. I drove my runs cleanly and improved my speed with every lap. 11th is a decent starting position, and we also have an extra set of Soft tyres for tomorrow.

      Yesterday, because of the red flags, no one was able to complete long stints, so there may be surprises in the race. As always, the strategy will depend on how things develop, but we’ll do everything to achieve the best possible result.”

      Gabriel Bortolotto (16th): “It’s a shame I didn’t make it into the second session, although the car was capable of it. I started the fast lap well but had to back off because of yellow flags. Unfortunately, the lap was lost.

      It’s a pity it worked out this way. Today I felt much more confident; FP3 went positively and I was sure I could perform well in qualifying. But these things happen — just unlucky.”