Equally pleasing were the words of President Luca di Montezemolo, when he attended another tradition, the victory buffet, where the entire Scuderia personnel gathered in the Nuova Logistica pavilion. “These wins are down to the work of the team and have not just dropped out of the sky through luck. Everyone, from the people on the pit wall, to the pit stop crew, those in the garage, the people here in the factory and the drivers out on track, have all made a positive contribution. I am proud to be your President and I am pleased for Stefano Domenicali and all his people who never gave up when things seemed very difficult. This is the team I want: made up of people who go about their work quietly, who do not get downhearted when facing difficulties and who keep their feet firmly on the ground when things go well again.”

Domenicali also thanked the men and women of the GeS for everything they had done during the Singapore Grand Prix. “We are on the right road, but the difficult part is still ahead of us,” said the Scuderia Team Principal. “Having been confronted with making up as big a gap as the one we faced just over two months ago, the effort becomes even more arduous as one gets closer to our goal and when every point seems as heavy as a rock. Striving for total reliability, improving performance, sticking to our working practices, concentrating at all times and, above all, keeping calm: that is the recipe we must stick to in the coming decisive weeks. Let’s enjoy just a moment longer the happiness of winning in Singapore but then, we must immediately start thinking about the Land of the Rising Sun.”

In winning on Sunday Ferrari has shaken two monkeys off its back: the one concerning Singapore and the other to do with racing under floodlights. Not only had the Maranello team never won this race, but it had not even picked up any points, as was also the case in the first running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the other fixture on the calendar held, at least for part of the time, under artificial lighting. Fernando Alonso’s win and Felipe Massa’s eighth place have now put both these negatives to bed.

Sunday’s race was also very significant in terms of the statistics. Alonso’s fourth win with Ferrari brings his total number of career wins to 25, the same as two legendary figures in the sport, Jim Clark and Niki Lauda. There are now only five drivers ahead of Fernando in the all time winners list: Jackie Stewart (27 wins,) Nigel Mansell (31,) Ayrton Senna (41,) Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91.) A perfect weekend for the man from Oviedo means he is the twenty first driver to join the "grand slam" group, meaning that over one Grand Prix weekend, he took the win, pole position and the fastest race lap, as well as leading the event from the start to the chequered flag. Leading this particular classification is Jim Clark, who scored no less than eight grand slams, while the only other current driver to feature is Michael Schumacher, who has five to his name. The fact that Alonso is particularly fond of the Singapore track can also be seen from his personal score here: two wins (one counting from the now infamous "fixed" race with the Renault team) one third place, one pole position and two fastest race laps.