After rocketing to yet another dominant victory at the Singapore Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Christian Horner said it is ‘not right’ and ‘not deserved’ that Sebastian Vettel was booed on the podium.

And while many tipped Mercedes to do the impossible on a track that heavily favours their car, Lewis Hamilton played down his chances before the race and was disappointed with the result after finishing fifth – one place behind teammate Nico Rosberg.

“That was a really tough race, probably the most physically demanding of the year,” the 2008 Formula One World Champion said. “We tried our best and the car felt good tonight but unfortunately we paid the price for not qualifying further ahead. I didn’t have the best start and had to go wide to avoid Mark at turn one. 

“From there, it was difficult to follow the race and my position. Whilst the timing of the safety car definitely didn’t help us, we need to go back through our strategy and see what we could possibly have done differently in that situation.

“I’m not sure we could have done what Fernando and Kimi did by staying out on that set of tyres for so long, though. Of course, it’s a little disappointing to come away with only fifth place but I gave it my all out there and we’ll come back stronger. Our aim is to get back ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship and see if we can get another win before the end of the season.”

Ross Brawn said the emergence of the safety car resulted in a ‘frustrating’ race for the team while Nico Rosberg reminded Mercedes that the team ‘need to learn from the weekend’.

Once again, tyre problems plagued the Mercedes Formula One team.