SINGAPORE: The ninth edition of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix will go down as one of the best yet, as the battle for supremacy on the Marina Bay Circuit turned into a keen game of strategy between the season’s top three teams, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. In the end, Mercedes – runaway leader in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships – came away winners in the
fascinating battles first and third places. Starting his 200th Grand Prix from pole position, Nico Rosberg converted the advantage into a 22nd career win, one which he said he is happy for and would celebrate, but with his mind clearly on the bigger picture.
The 31-year-old German reclaimed the advantage in the drivers’ championship, his win taking him to 273 points and an eight-point lead over team-mate Lewis Hamilton (265 points) who finished third.
Rosberg has now won eight races this season to Hamilton’s six, and will hope to keep his advantage over the season’s remaining six races to claim a maiden Formula 1 championship.
In Singapore, however, Rosberg’s battle was not against Hamilton, who had struggled all weekend in practice, through qualifying. Instead, he had to contend with the improving Red Bull, whose Daniel Ricciardo sniped at his ankles throughout the race, and could have well taken the race win had it gone on for a lap or two longer.
Ricciardo was especially dangerous after his third and final pit-stop, when he had 12 laps to chase Rosberg down armed with ultra-soft tyres. As he proceeded to progressively eat into Rosberg’s lead – the Australian was projected to catch up with four laps remaining – Mercedes were forced to abort a pit-stop for their lead driver, and hope Rosberg could hold off the challenger.
In the end, Ricciardo simply ran out of laps as Rosberg relied on his experience to nurse the Mercedes home to become only the fourth driver to win the Singapore F1 race.
"The whole car was on the edge, it always is in Singapore,” said Rosberg at the podium interview. “It's all the more satisfying with a race like that.”
As for Ricciardo, it was a runner-up spot for the second year running, although Red Bull have proven yet again that they can be competitive on twisty tracks, as evidenced by their strong showing in Monaco and now here.
"We have come close on numerous occasions but I am not disappointed,” said the 27-year-old. “We gave it a shot, we got with half a second. It was close.”
As for Hamilton, the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix was all about defending third place, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen pushing him all the way from start to finish, and even overtaking him midway through the 61-lap race.
But the Brit got ahead again after his final tyre-change and pressed home the advantage over his Finnish rival.
"This weekend has been a tricky one for me but I'm just happy to get on the podium and get some points for the team,” said the Brit, a three-time world champion. "The brakes were way overheating so I had to slow down. Once I did my second or third stop we managed to sort it out."
As for again going behind his team-mate Rosberg in the drivers’ championship, Hamilton said: "It's a lot different to when I was here last year but I'm still in the fight and I'm going to give it everything I've got."
The race had started with just 21 cars, after a mechanical failure saw Haas withdrawing Romain Grosjean as the cars went around for their formation lap. And the Safety Car made its customary – and quite possibly its earliest – appearance soon afterwards, as a shunt from Scuderia Torro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr sent Nico Hulkenberg crashing and ending the Force India driver’s race on the opening straight.
The sport’s governing body, the FIA, is also investigating an incident when a track marshall was caught by surprised and had to scamper for his life, after the race was allowed to resume following the Safety Car period.
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