The excitement came from a superb drive from Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, who clawed back nearly 28 seconds in the closing laps on fresher tyres, to hound Rosberg to the line, finishing just 0.4 seconds behind.
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“Of course Daniel tried to pull one up on me with the pitstop at the end, we knew it was going to be tight but we got there so I’m very happy”, added Rosberg, who opened a 43-point lead on Hamilton at the start of the season before falling behind when the Briton won six of seven races.
Speaking to Dutch television post-race, Max Verstappen explained his poor getaway, placing the blame on a faulty clutch.
The 31-year-old German – despite Red Bull attempting an aggressive three-stop strategy that led to a fascinating crescendo – sealed his inaugural win at Singapore and his first podium finish here since 2008.
Things again started to look interesting at the front when Mercedes missed bringing in Nico Rosberg for a tyre change due to high pit lane traffic. Whilst they still managed to claim a 1-3 finish, both the eventual victor Nico Rosberg and Hamilton suffered with brake issues throughout the race, that needed serious management.
He remains the only man to have outscored Sebastian Vettel in the same vehicle over a season, in 2014, and he has got the better, so far, of the man most F1 pundits have pegged as the sport’s next superstar.
For the first time this season, and arguably the first in the three years in which they have battled for the championship, Rosberg delivered a crushing victory over Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso underlined McLaren’s gradual improvement by crossing the line in seventh, and there was a rare result for Renault as Kevin Magnussen finished among the points for only the second time this campaign. “To get within half a second in two hours [the elapsed race time] was a great performance, but it just wasn’t quite enough”. The Red Bull was always going to be competitive at Singapore and he’d obviously set himself for a win.
Ferrari could feasibly have held the place by leaving Raikkonen out but opted to pit him as well, which triggered Ricciardo’s stop and the consequent thrilling final laps.
“We’ve come close on numerous occasions, [and today] we gave it a good shot and got within half a second”.
“We almost peed our trousers at the end”, Wolff said.
The Safety Car remained on track for two laps, and when the race restarted, a marshall was left floundering, having to run out the way as cars barrelled towards him, a matter that is being investigated by the FIA now.
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Attendance at the Singapore Grand Prix, one of the most popular races on the calendar fell this year, hurt by a slowdown in the local and global economy. The Italian team, who haven’t won a single race since a year, seemed rusty in their moment of quick-footed thinking.
