Are you willing to sponsor?
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted September 19, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Sebastian Vettel has won the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix after leading every single lap from pole position. He led home his former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and current team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to take his 42nd Grand Prix victory. Mercedes continued to not have their leading pace, with Rosberg taking 4th and Hamilton retiring with a loss of power. He may have been a factor in the closing stages had he not retired for the first time this year.
After the sensational performance by Ferrari and Red Bull in qualifying yesterday, Mercedes were in the unfamiliar surroundings of being on the third row of the grid.
For Nico Rosberg, the troubles didn’t end there as he suffered a somewhat similar issue with starting his car like he had in last year’s race. Luckily for him, the team were almost certain that they had solved the issue before the start.
Sebastian Vettel got away cleanly from pole position to lead down into turn 1 ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen. Daniil Kvyat came under attack from Lewis Hamilton but he managed to fend him off through the first few corners. Valtteri Bottas tried to pounce on Nico Rosberg but the German defended well to keep him behind. Max Verstappen stalled from 8th on the grid and had to be pushed back to the pits. The Toro Rosso mechanics got him back going, but he was a lap down by that point.
It was reminiscent of 2011 up at the front, with Sebastian Vettel streaking away in the opening laps to get a lead of 4 seconds by the end of lap 2. He continued to extend the gap over the next couple of laps to his ex-team-mate Daniel Ricciardo; with the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen hanging onto the coat tails of Ricciardo. By lap 7, Vettel eased off his rapid pace and began to start saving his tyres; with Ricciardo matching his pace behind.
The first stint of the race wasn’t the most exciting affair as drivers sought to keep their tyres going until their first stop. Grosjean, Alonso, Sainz, Ericsson and Maldonado all pitted fairly early on laps 10 and 11; with Alonso being held up by Maldonado as he tried to exit his pit box. He emerged just ahead of Grosjean and tried to keep him behind, but ultimately the Frenchman would pass with the aid of DRS into turn 5.
The front-runners made their first stops at the start of lap 13, with Daniil Kvyat pitting from 4th. He exited the pits and at that precise moment, Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg made contract at turn 3 as Massa exited the pits. Hulkenberg looked to not give Massa any room on the inside of turn 3, with the contact sending Hulkenberg into the wall. The virtual safety car was deployed, with the remaining drivers who hadn’t pit taking the opportunity to do so.
Vettel maintained his lead at the front after his stop, with Ricciardo and Raikkonen maintaining formation behind him. Daniil Kvyat was massively unlucky to have pitted just as the virtual safety car was deployed. Because of this, he lost two positions to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg; who were now 4th and 5th. Additionally, both Mercedes drivers had fitted the slower compound soft tyre instead of the super-soft on the rest of the leaders.
Soon after, the actual safety car was deployed due to the sheer amount of debris at turn 3, with the safety car period finally coming to an end at the end of lap 18.
Sebastian Vettel got away reasonably at the front as the green flag flew in the air once more, with Ricciardo holding on behind him in 2nd. The Australian was right on the gearbox of the Ferrari just before the restart in anticipation, with the Red Bull driver being rewarded for keeping on his toes. He was still within a second of Sebastian at the end of the lap. The top three remained much closer to each other compared to the start of the race, with 4th placed Hamilton commenting over the radio how Sebastian was ‘backing up’ Ricciardo and Raikkonen.
Hamilton soon had much more pressing issues, as on lap 26 he reported that he had lost power in his Mercedes. Down the start finish straight he was passed by team-mate Rosberg, with Kvyat and Bottas following suit shortly after. The team were instructing Lewis to perform several potential fixes but none of them appeared to work. The team soon diagnosed a potential throttle issue as he was not able to go to full power.
Soon Hamilton was out of the points as the team continued to try and fix the problem. Felipe Massa was having issues at the same time, with the team soon telling him to pit and retire the car after suffering gear issues. Shortly after, Hamilton followed his former championship rival into the pits and into retirement for the first time since last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. Yet another driver retired moments later, with Fernando Alonso unexpectedly pitting before being wheeled into the garage; with a gearbox failure being cited as the cause.
Back up at the front, Sebastian was back into full attack mode. With 30 laps to go, he had pulled ahead by 4 seconds after seemingly saving tyres at the start of the stint. Raikkonen was dropping back from Vettel and Ricciardo, but 4th placed Rosberg wasn’t catching him. The Mercedes driver was 11 seconds off of Raikkonen; who occupied the final podium position. Daniil Kvyat had been right on the back of Rosberg before making his final stop; which was slightly longer than expected after issues putting on the right-rear tyre.
The streets of Singapore are usually bustling with traffic and pedestrians, but they are all, of course, cleared off of the roads during the Grand Prix weekend. This information seemed to have gone amiss for one man, who appeared on the track on lap 37 as he casually strolled along the side of the circuit; much the dismay of Sebastian Vettel who reported the incident of the radio. What’s more is that the intruder had caused a safety car which bunched the field up and decimated Vettel’s lead. All the leaders made their final stops under the safety car, with all the drivers now good until the end on the soft tyre compound.
The safety car came in at the start of lap 41; 20 laps to go. Vettel got away much more this time around and had a lead of a second ahead of Ricciardo at the end of the lap. Further back, things were kicking off. The two Manor cars were right in the mix on the restart having not taken their opportunities to unlap themselves under the safety car. As a result, a few cars got backed up towards each other. Jenson Button was right behind Pastor Maldonado at turn 17, but soon he got too close and broke his front wing; forcing him to pit and ruining McLaren’s only chance of points in the race. He would retire later on with gearbox overheating issues. This would be McLaren’s 4th double retirement of 2015.
The safety cars may have ruined some peoples chances, but it massively helped the Toro Rosso drivers. At one stage, the pair were propping up the field in 19th and 20th but now they were running inside the points in 9th and 10th; with Verstappen right on the gearbox of 8th placed Grosjean. He had pulled off a tidy move on the other Lotus of Maldonado a few laps previously, before pulling off a sweet move in the middle sector by forcing Grosjean to go defensive and therefore slower. Sainz followed his team-mate through at turn 1 with a daring late-braking move, but his move was put into question after running off track.
Daniel Ricciardo was starting to catch Vettel in the lead of the race, with the Australian setting the fastest lap of the race to draw within 2.8 seconds of Sebastian. The gap was starting to ebb and flow however, with Sebastian soon bringing the gap back over 3 seconds.
The challenge seemed to have been abated for Vettel as he started the final lap of the race, with the Ferrari driver soon coming through to take his 42nd Formula One Grand Prix victory and his 3rd of the year; a sensational performance having led from start to finish. Ricciardo took 2nd and spoiled Vettel’s chances of taking a Grand Chelem by stealing the fastest lap of the race in the closing stages. 3rd place went the way of Kimi Raikkonen, who never seemed to have the pace to challenge those ahead, but equally he was never under pressure to keep the position.
4th place would go to Nico Rosberg, who would close to within 41 points of the championship lead following his team-mates’ retirement; still a large gap to bridge in the final races of the season. He will also have to worry about being challenged by Sebastian Vettel who is now just 8 points behind him in the standings. 5th place was Valtteri Bottas in the Williams, who nursed his car home with a gearbox glitch in the final few laps. 6th was Daniil Kvyat, who will be disappointed having possibly been able to take a podium before bad luck befell him with pit-stops.
7th was Sergio Perez just ahead of the two Toro Rosso drivers. Max Verstappen lead the duo across the line despite having been instructed to let team-mate Sainz through during the final 2 laps. He will have some explaining to do to his team as to why he disobeyed the team orders, but both drivers drove fantastically to recover from the back of the field. Completing the top 10 was Felipe Nasr, who snatched the final point away from Romain Grosjean in the last few laps.
5 drivers failed to finish the race, which allowed the Manor drivers to take 14th and 15th place; with Alexander Rossi ending his first Formula One race ahead of team-mate Will Stevens despite not having his team radio for the second half.
2015 Singapore Grand Prix results:
POS |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
Grid |
1 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari |
25 |
1st |
2 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull |
18 |
2nd |
3 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
15 |
3rd |
4 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes |
12 |
6th |
5 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Williams |
10 |
7th |
6 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Red Bull |
8 |
4th |
7 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India |
6 |
13th |
8 |
Max Verstappen |
Toro Rosso |
4 |
8th |
9 |
Carlos Sainz |
Toro Rosso |
2 |
14th |
10 |
Felipe Nasr |
Sauber |
1 |
16th |
11 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Sauber |
0 |
17th |
12 |
Pastor Maldonado |
Lotus |
0 |
18th |
13 |
Romain Grosjean |
Lotus |
0 |
10th |
14 |
Alexander Rossi |
Manor |
+1 Lap |
20th |
15 |
Will Stevens |
Manor |
+1 Lap |
19th |
16 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren |
DNF |
15th |
17 |
Fernando Alonso |
McLaren |
DNF |
12th |
18 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
DNF |
5th |
19 |
Felipe Massa |
Williams |
DNF |
9th |
20 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India |
DNF |
11th |
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
View our blogFebruary 3, 2025
Formula 1 is a sport that combines technology, precision engineering and performance at the limit, and it often raises questions even about aspects that seem taken for granted in the world of[...]
Read MoreFebruary 3, 2025
The recent sponsorship agreement between Alpine and the Yamaha Pramac MotoGP team has captured the attention of motorsport insiders and fans, marking a significant shift in the industry&rsquo[...]
Read MoreFebruary 2, 2025
Formula 1 single-seaters are equipped with power steering, a system that facilitates steering by reducing the effort required from the driver. This component is critical for handling the high[...]
Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
View our blogFebruary 3, 2025
Formula 1 is a sport that combines technology, precision engineering and performance at the limit, and it often raises questions even about aspects that seem taken for granted in the world of[...]
Read MoreFebruary 3, 2025
The recent sponsorship agreement between Alpine and the Yamaha Pramac MotoGP team has captured the attention of motorsport insiders and fans, marking a significant shift in the industry&rsquo[...]
Read MoreFebruary 2, 2025
Formula 1 single-seaters are equipped with power steering, a system that facilitates steering by reducing the effort required from the driver. This component is critical for handling the high[...]
Read More