Rosberg trails championship leader and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by two points in the championship.
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Rosberg, two points behind Hamilton, lapped the 23-turn Marina Bay Street Circuit in one minute 44.352 seconds, just 0.059 ahead of 18-year-old Verstappen, suggesting the race for pole will be a close-run affair.
“We are in a good position to go for pole position”.
Red Bull Racing even seized the opportunity to get in on the act, writing: “SPY: People always say Formula One is full of reptiles and now we have proof!”
Ricciardo recovered some of that Q1 pace to join him on the front row, although Verstappen struggled to keep up with his senior team-mate; and Hamilton staggered in third. “One of my top three laps ever”.
It was Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull who was quickest overall, seven-tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
It has also been an unhappy couple of days for four-time Singapore GP victor Sebastian Vettel, who will start last after a suspension problem meant he was unable to set a competitive time.
“Qualifying in Singapore is a little bit more important compared to some other places, but it is still a long race, and there is still a long way to go”.
“At times it wasn’t clear where we would stack up against Red Bull so I knew I had to pull one out of the bag. I’m sure there will be curveballs with safety cars and whatnot, but we’re at the pointy end and we can try and get that victory this year”.
Drivers were asked what changes they would like to see brought in by United States billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media, which is buying out F1’s parent company in a deal which values the sport at 8 billion.
“It wasn’t really a frustrating session it just hasn’t really been my weekend so far”, said Hamilton, whose Friday practice was restricted by a hydraulic failure.
“We made a decision to try and pit to fix the vehicle but there wasn’t time”, said Vettel, who has won four of the last five races in Singapore.
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But Force India will be happy to see Nico Hulkenberg continuing to impress, again going sixth fastest (1:45.316) ahead of Torro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1:45.503).
