As was the case a year ago when Vettel stormed to victory, the superior power of the Mercedes appears to have been negated by the high downforce and slow nature of the Singapore track as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could only finish fourth and fifth respectively.
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In Monaco, Ricciardo drove a brilliant lap to put the vehicle on pole and was on course for a win until a pit-stop error cost him a chunk of time and the lead in the race when the team wasn’t ready with the right tyres.
Ricciardo and team mate Max Verstappen have opted for four sets of supersofts each and seven ultrasofts, whereas Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have gone for two and nine respectively.
“It definitely needs attention on my part, but I have been feeling good lately and I have had some good starts so I am feeling good about it”.
And last year’s Singapore race proved a hard one for Mercedes in qualifying on the third row of the grid and unable to mount any challenge. “It’s a bit more of a lottery, makes it exciting and makes our practice runs perhaps a little bit more calculated”.
While it remains to be seen if it will be either Hamilton or Rosberg standing at the top of the podium come Sunday evening, Mercedes have a guaranteed success in their latest innovation to enhance the experience of their guests.
Singapore saw a Mercedes meltdown in the high humidity previous year as they failed to get on the podium as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won with Ricciardo finishing as runner-up.
“Physically at least it is the toughest race”.
“This track was very good for us previous year and we have improved the auto from then so we should have a reasonable chance”. I was lucky to be very successful in the last couple of years. For sure if it plays in your favour you take it, if it works against you it can be annoying, but that’s the way it is, that’s the nature of the street circuits. “I’m full of optimism”.
It hasn’t been a good track for Nico Rosberg in recent years.
“We might have a chance here, in the past there have been random things happen”.
There’s plenty of off-track news for this weekend, too. While Bernie Ecclestone remains in charge for now, changes are coming.
McLaren driver Jenson Button claimed on Thursday that the best he could hope for was seventh this weekend, but the 2009 world champion, who will not be racing in Formula One next season after recently announcing he will take a break from the sport, was only 16th in the order.
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German paper Bild reported the CEO would arrive at the Marina Bay track Friday accompanying the sport’s new chairman Chase Carey.
