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Vergne hopes Singapore performance brings rewards

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Image for Vergne hopes Singapore performance brings rewards

Jean-Eric Vergne currently sits 13th in the driver standings for Toro Rosso 11 points ahead of team mate Daniil Kvyat.

But at 24-years-old, Red Bull Racing’s sister team have decided that Vergne is too old for their team and will leave at the end of the 2014 Formula One World Championship season.

His replacement will be 16-year-old Max Verstappen who will partner Kvyat in 2015.

The news that he had lost his seat at Toro Rosso came as a desperate blow for Vergne, who just last year had been in contention for a drive with Red Bull following the retirement of Mark Webber.

During the 2013 Formula One World Championship Vergne had a bright start to the season, scoring points in Malaysia, Monaco and Canada, scoring 13 points from the opening 7 races.

A lot of people had assumed that it would be Vergne to get the nod ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and when the announcement was made that Red Bull had opted for Ricciardo over Vergne many in the paddock were shocked.

Vergne failed to score a single point for the rest of the season.

12 months on and Ricciardo is now out-performing Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull, with three Grand Prix victories this season, whilst Vergne is currently out of work for 2015.

But Vergne put in an eye-catching performance around the Marina Bay circuit, to take sixth place in excellent circumstances.

The Frenchman had been hit with two five-second time penalties, which forced Vergne to go on the attack in the final stages of the Grand Prix.

?I am extremely happy, especially the way we took sixth place with the two penalties – amazing,? Vergne told formula1.com.

?Ten seconds is a lot in the race – I really had to go and take those positions in the last laps and pull away as much as possible. Having to overtake so many cars was a lot of fun. To finish sixth was incredible.

?When you have a good car, that?s when you need to show yourself, and that?s hopefully what I have done. I think I showed my potential – I did everything I could. Let?s see if it might change things.?

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