The adoption of a three-stop strategy saw the 31-year-old usurp Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, a policy replicated Ricciardo which nearly saw him catch Rosberg.
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With four laps to go, Daniel Ricciardo looked set to catch up, but Nico Rosberg managed to to stave off the attack and take the chequered flag just marginally ahead of the Red Bull.
“We have a tendency of talking one up and the other one down”, he admitted.
Although Rosberg has won three races in a row now, Wolff was eager not to read too much in to the fact that the momentum of the title chase appeared to have swung back in his favour.
The safety vehicle went in on lap three.
Sebastian Vettel recovered from having to start at the back of the grid due to a suspension failure in qualifying, came home in fifth place with Max Verstappen a long way behind the Red Bull driver in sixth.
Hamilton had his own private battle with Raikkonen behind the leading duo, the Briton losing third place to the Finn after a mistake on lap 34 but reclaiming the position with a timely pit stop to hold on to the finish.
Red Bull’s Ricciardo ranked third with 179 points. For sure, yes, it’s been a good weekend for me.
The victory was Rosberg’s eighth of the Championship, two more than Hamilton, in what was the German’s 200th Grand Prix star.
“The tyre lasted just right so I am very happy and when we started the last lap, I knew the lead was going to be enough and his tyres weren’t as fresh anymore anyway”, added the German, who moved eight points above Hamilton with six races remaining.
Nico Rosberg (centre) raises the trophy as he celebrates victory on the podium with second runner up Lewis Hamilton (left) after the Singapore Grand Prix night race on Sept 18, 2016. “We got within half a second but after the race I said on the radio to the team that we’ll win this year”, he said.
“It’s a lot different to when I was here previous year”, said Hamilton, who emerged from the 2015 Singapore race with a 41-point lead over Rosberg despite retiring.
“I am pretty happy – I did all I could”, Ricciardo said.
Daniel Ricciardo was terrific in Singapore, out-performing Lewis Hamilton on his way to second place, and giving Nico Rosberg a real fright in the closing laps.
“I had a good weekend so it’s normal that he recognises that”.
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“Struggled with the balance, struggled getting on to the pace myself and then in the race struggled with the brakes, which meant I had to drive slow until they cooled down, which they never did until close to the end”, he said.
