Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix from pole despite pressure from second place’s Daniel Ricciardo late in the race, propelling him into the Formula 1 driver’s championship lead.
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Three seconds were taken out of the German’s lead per lap in the immediate aftermath of Ricciardo’s third stop and suddenly the gap was under 14 seconds with eight laps to go.
“I am pretty happy – I did all I could”, Ricciardo said. That’s what I came here to do and now I will celebrate after this. “He’s expecting to continue and I have to make sure I do the same”. “I’m on a good roll”.
He was gracious in defeat and talking a team game after the Singapore Grand Prix, but alarm bells would be ringing now he’s eight points down and chasing.
Romain Grosjean’s miserable weekend ended early after a brake problem on his Haas VF-16 auto prevented him from starting the race.
“It was close today.” said Ricciardo “We did everything we could and I thought it was pretty much a ideal race”.
It wasn’t smooth sailing all the way though, especially in the final stages of the race when Ricciardo started to pick up speed.
The German completed his last 28 laps on soft tyres, the same compound Ricciardo was using until he pitted, and while the Australian was comfortable at the time, he felt using different tyres was his only chance of getting in front of the Mercedes.
So although Red Bull and Ferrari might run a little bit of interference in the remaining races in Malaysia, Japan, America, Mexico, Brazil and finally Abu Dhabi it looks like another shootout between Rosberg and Hamilton who I still believe is the superior driver. “So I had to be on it in that last stint, get everything right and nail all those laps”.
“At the time I started the last lap I knew that it would be enough (for me to win) because Daniel’s tyres weren’t as fresh anymore”.
With 11 laps to go Ricciardo set about catching the Mercedes and appeared to be eating 3 to 4 seconds per lap off his lead.
“It was very unsafe”, Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff told reporters.
Nico Hülkenberg said, “It’s extremely disappointing to end my race in the barrier after just 50 metres, especially because I had made such a good start – probably my best getaway off the line this year”.
As we have seen, Hamilton is not unbeatable; he is prone to mood swings and openly hates losing, as all champions do, but he is an exceptional driver and I still think he will win the title. “I’m still in the fight and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got”. We couldn’t come in because of traffic, but it was a cool ending!
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With a sizeable chunk of the record, 21-race season still to go, starting in neighbouring Malaysia in two weeks, Hamilton said he would take the positives from a hard weekend fraught with mechanical issues.
