Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany celebrates after taking pole position during the qualifying session for the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix on the Marina Bay City Circuit Singapore, Sept 17, 2016.
Advertisement
“Today, great start. I had a good vehicle in the race”.
Hamilton, who chalked up his 99th podium finish, was way off the pace in the first half of the race and when asked what was wrong, he replied: “I was struggling with my brakes, they were way overheating. which meant I had to drive slow until they cooled down, which they never did until close to the end”.
“Well, it’s a lot different to when I was here last year, but in all in all, with everything that’s gone on this year, I’m still in the fight, there’s still a long way to go and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got”, he said. “Obviously the strategy still didn’t give us victory, but it was good fun to push to the last lap and know I was at least putting some pressure on, and giving the crowd some hope”. The Red Bull was always going to be competitive at Singapore and he’d obviously set himself for a win. “His win was fully deserving”. For Red Bull Racing, it was Ricciardo who scored the podium once again as their prodigy Max Verstappen could only manage sixth, behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
On the opening lap, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg got off to a good start from P8, but crashed out before turn one when he was tagged by Carlos Sainz’s Torro Rosso.
The race resumed on very short notice after just a few laps – such short notice that a safety marshal who was picking up debris on the track almost collided with the oncoming traffic on the start-finish straight.
Hamilton had endured a frustrating weekend in practice and qualifying and was becoming increasingly irate at not being able to get past Ricciardo.
A lap later, a flurry of pit stops saw the top four all emerge on soft tyres with Hamilton now six seconds adrift of the top three. “I expect him to continue like that so I’ve got make sure that I do the same”.
Hamilton was third, 8.038 seconds behind as the Briton fell eight points behind Rosberg in the drivers’ standings with six events to go.
“We need to start coming out with some plan because this is all the pace I’ve got with the brakes”, demanded the championship leader on the radio.
He regained the position on the third and final stops.
Toto Wolff says Nico Rosberg’s performance at the Singapore Grand Prix was the best he has ever seen from his German driver.
Advertisement
Ricciardo too made his third stop, forcing Mercedes to consider pulling Rosberg in. This news story is related to Print/150893-Rosberg-holds-off-Ricciardo-to-seize-championship-lead/ – breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne.
