Another power shift at the top of the driver rankings!
After Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, third victory in four weeks for Nico Rosberg in Singapore! The Mercedes driver takes over the lead in the drivers' championship from Lewis Hamilton. Read the reactions of the top three drivers on the podium after today's race.
Rosberg pushed his W07 to its limits!
Nico Rosberg indeed made a huge impact on the occasion of his 200th weekend as a Formula 1 driver! After Saturday’s demonstration, it was time for Sunday’s tour de force: resisting Daniel Ricciardo’s gamble, who went back to the pits once more at the end of the race to put on super-soft tires. But with a margin of 4 tenths at the finish, the German resisted and triumphed. His joy was therefore multiplied when responding on the podium to Martin Brundle’s microphone after the champagne ceremony: « This weekend in Singapore has been incredible for me, with my amazing lap yesterday in Qualifying. I had a very good car. Daniel tried to come back at the end of the race with his extra stop. It was tense at the end, the car overall was at the limit! But we made it! »
Nice intuition from the driver and his team, both parties have obviously anticipated the negative consequences of an additional pit stop: « I could have pitted but would have encountered traffic, so I had to stay on the track!
But that didn’t spare the W07, which could have given out at any moment before reaching the end of the 61 laps of the race. On the subject of tire and brake management: « Everything was on the edge! So it makes me even happier to win here! »
From now on, Rosberg takes back the lead in the general standings, with 273 points, a position he had already occupied at the beginning of the season before conceding to Lewis Hamilton after the race in Hungary, mid-July. Before turning to an exciting future battle shaping up for the last six races of the season, today’s winner wanted to first enjoy his maiden victory on the streets of Singapore City: « I just want to savor the victory and not think about the title race yet! I’m already inviting everyone to Sepang. »
✌🏻️🏆🇸🇬 pic.twitter.com/qhBwazH62y
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) 18 septembre 2016
No frustration for Daniel Ricciardo
It’s hard to believe that victory eludes the Australian this season! After his team’s mistake in Monaco, he was just one lap away from sweet revenge this time. Unfortunately, Ricciardo ended up right behind the Mercedes under the checkered flag. But this time, the smiling driver doesn’t have too many regrets: “We were very close to winning; we had to take a chance with strategy at the end of the race. We’re missing half a second, but I’m back on the podium. I’m not disappointed. As soon as we made our last stop, we attacked incredibly hard, it was very exciting!”
“The champagne! Podium number 15 in #F1 and a fifth of the season for @danielricciardo 👏🏆🥂 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/ZkRXSPTRGD” — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) September 18, 2016
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Lewis Hamilton dispossessed of the leadership!
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Lewis Hamilton tastes champagne for the 99th time in his career by stepping onto the third tier of the podium. But as number 44 himself says: « This is not my tastiest podium. »
Struggling with brake difficulties in the first part of the race, he at least salvaged something during the third pit stop by overtaking Kimi Räikkönen, who had previously passed him on the track: « But congratulations to Nico, he did a great job this weekend, he deserves his victory. I knew the race would be tough here in Singapore. It was a complicated weekend for me. I had overheating issues with my brakes, and I had to let the drivers in front of me go. But everything was better after my second stop, and I was able to fight back until the end. I thank everyone for the support given this weekend, I will continue to push. »
Paradoxically, despite losing the lead, the double winner here in Singapore preferred to put things into perspective by recalling a chaotic start to the season, which had left him far behind Nico Rosberg: « Considering everything that’s happened to me this year, I’m happy to still be in the fight. »
The main challenge for him now will be not to let Nico Rosberg clearly take the upper hand starting from Sepang, the next destination on the F1 Circus calendar. But will the dynamics continue in the same direction? Nico Rosberg seems to be transcendent since the season resumed at the end of August. Will Lewis Hamilton be able to react as early as Malaysia?
