“It was so close and how it should be in Formula One”.
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He fought back from 43 points behind earlier in the season to build up a 19-point lead – only for Rosberg to clinch his third straight win on Sunday to go eight points clear.
Ferrari were caught off guard, unsure whether to leave Raikkonen out on older tyres than Hamilton or pit him to cover the world champion’s move.
Hamilton was hampered by a brake problem which he was urged to manage by his Mercedes team from the outset of the race – although Rosberg, in the sister vehicle, was also told to nurse a similar issue.
“The tyres lasted just right, so I’m very, very happy of course”. I went for the gap between the two Toro Rossos, which was there, but obviously things got very tight. “On a good roll so I’m going to try to win Malaysia next”.
“My brakes, I was struggling with the brakes that were overheating so I had to slow down and watch the other guys pull away”.
Nico Rosberg said that winning the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time this weekend was “awesome”, but he downplayed its significance in terms of what it meant for his hopes of clinching the 2016 world championship.
“[I had a] great start, and I had a good auto in the race”.
For Daniel Ricciardo the race came painfully close to fulfilling his pre-race prophecy of making good on the race victory he lost in Monaco through botched team strategy. “This weekend has been a bit of a tricky one for me but I’m glad I could get back on the podium”.
“By the time I started the last lap I knew it was going to be enough because Daniel’s tyres weren’t as fresh any more”.
The win was Rosberg’s third in a row and he now holds an eight-point advantage over team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings. “Some weekends he does great, some weekends I do great”.
“I’ve known Nico since 2013 and that is the best Nico Rosberg I have ever seen throughout a weekend since then”, explained Wolff.
The German added: “It really shows that we not only have the best auto, but also we have the most competent group of engineers to extract the potential from the best vehicle from every weekend”. We couldn’t come in because of traffic, but it was a cool ending!
But even he acknowledges Rosberg is certainly mounting his strongest challenge yet after coming off second best to Hamilton in the past two seasons.
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It really shows that not only do we have the best vehicle but we also have the most competent group of engineers to extract the potential from the best auto.
