“To overtake around here isn’t easy, so to do it on the same tyre, even if I was half a second quicker, you still need a pretty big advantage to pull something off unless a mistake is made by the guy in front”, Ricciardo said.
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“If there was anything that could have been more flawless, it was the start but Nico got off the line well”.
“Eventually once I did my second or third stop, all of a sudden my brakes were under control”.
But the Stevenage-born racer endured an arduous night as he failed to challenge either Rosberg or Ricciardo before a mistake on lap 33 enabled Kimi Raikkonen to pass him, too.
This was his third consecutive win since the summer break, his first victory in Singapore and it swings the championship pendulum in his direction as we enter the business end of the season.
“The team put me on a three-stop at the end and it was fun”.
“So even if the track’s hard to overtake (on), it was nice to be able to push to the last lap and know that I was at least putting some pressure on him and giving the crowd still a little bit of hope”.
He might have wrestled the championship lead from the defending champion in Singapore yesterday but he can expect the Brit to fight back ferociously and the fact that Red Bull appear to have finally got their act back together will add to what should be a fascinating final six grands prix, although it still looks like two-horse race with Ricciardo 86 points behind Hamilton. “I need a couple of strong weekends to get back to where I need to be”. I had a great start and a great vehicle.
Force India’s Hulkenberg tried to get through a narrowing gap between the two Toro Rossos but clipped a tire on Carlos Sainz Jr.’s auto and speared heavily into the pitlane wall. Vettel methodically worked his way through traffic on the tight street course finishing a remarkable fifth behind his Ferrari teammate Nico Raikkonen.
Rosberg said: “After the (last) pit stop the team said that he would be with me at the end of the race, which was the case, so for sure I had to be on it, get everything right, nail all those laps”. What nobody wanted to happen has happened, so we had to deal with it and move on. “We’ve come very close this year on numerous occasions, but I’m not going to be disappointed”, said the Australian.
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“I think in dry circumstances this was our best shot”. We’ve come from 43 points down, so theoretically eight points isn’t anywhere near as steep as that but still, Nico’s been performing fantastically well. MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS has 538 points to lead Red Bull’s 316 points by 222 points in the Constructors’ Championship.
