Rosberg has won the last two races to close the gap on championship-leading team mate Lewis Hamilton to two points and the Briton cut a frustrated figure on Friday, finishing seventh in the second session after suffering a hydraulics issue.
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“I think the world is changing a lot and it’s cool sometimes to get a breath of fresh air in the shape of a new competent group of people, who will bring along some new ideas”. This year we arrive with the knowledge of last year, where the auto has been, where we went wrong, and we have better prepared ourselves. The team came into the weekend hoping to have solved those issues and the evening session under the lights suggested progress has been made, with Rosberg’s 1:44.152 a full 0.3s quicker than Kimi Raikkonen in the quickest Ferrari.
Ricciardo looked a certain victor in Monaco earlier this season after starting from pole, until a botched pit stop cost him dearly and handed Mercedes Lewis Hamilton victory.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel is still searching for his first win of the season.
Having run the UltraSoft tyre to set a best time of 1:45.161, he finished 1.009 seconds down on the best time of the session, set by Nico Rosberg.
Safety cars Given that there has been at least one safety vehicle appearance in every Singapore race to date, the teams and drivers will be planning for a full-course caution period in their strategies for the 61-lap race.
As was the case a year ago when Vettel stormed to victory, the superior power of the Mercedes appears to have been negated by the high downforce and slow nature of the Singapore track as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could only finish fourth and fifth respectively.
And the three-time world champion has every reason to be, with Mercedes seemingly uncatchable this season.
“Of course, I am aware that the starts are an on-going challenge and it will not become easier for us. I lost the Hockenheim grand prix and the Hungarian grand prix with not optimal starts”, said Rosberg.
Speaking about the pace of rivals Mercedes and Red Bull, Vettel said: “Both looked very strong”.
“It definitely needs attention on my part, but I have been feeling good lately and I have had some good starts so I am feeling good about it”.
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But Force India showed they could surprise, with Nico Hulkenberg (1:45.182) sixth fastest, followed by championship leader Lewis Hamilton (1:45.275) who retired with almost 30 minutes of the session to run.
