Rosberg gets pole position at F1 Singapore Grand Prix 2016

Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo came close to snatching the win of the Singapore Grand Prix away from Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver Nico Rosberg with a last minute charge on Sunday, but ultimately came up less than half a second short.

With his victory in Singapore – his third on the trot – German Rosberg recaptured the lead of the world championship. “It’s a shame that Nico’s race finished so early, but we were able to score some good points on a hard night”, he said. So, is his team-mate anxious?

After allowing himself to be exposed by Hamilton at the start in Hungary and Germany, Rosberg slowed his pace at the end of the formation lap-backing up the pack and regulating everyone’s tyre, brake, engine and clutch temperatures-and, as a result, enjoyed one of his best getaways of the season to keep the lead. “I’m not really thinking too much about it at the moment”. Since the summer break, the German has also chalked up his first wins in Belgium and Italy. But as he holidayed in Costa Rica, Barbados and the United States, Rosberg spent the three-week shutdown with his wife Vivian and their one-year-old daughter Alaia.

The safety vehicle went in on lap three.

A lap later, a flurry of pit stops saw the top four all emerge on soft tyres with Hamilton now six seconds adrift of the top three.

“Nico just did an exceptional job this weekend and we didn’t”, Hamilton said.

Regarding the change of momentum in the title battle, he said: “We have the tendency of talking one up and the other one down”.

“We’re both fiercely competitive”. For sure, yes, it’s been a good weekend for me.

Hamilton headed into Sunday’s race under the lights hoping luck would be on his side after he qualified third at a circuit where it is nearly impossible to overtake.

Nevertheless, though Ricciardo was initially forecast to catch with two laps remaining, an indifferent run through traffic would mean he’d only get onto the tail of the W07 just as they finished the race, Rosberg clinging on by just 0.4s. “We’ve come very close this year on numerous occasions but you know, I’m not going to stand up here and be disappointed”, reflected Ricciardo, who made the podium for the third consecutive race. “It’s been an awesome weekend”, he told reporters. “Of course Daniel tried to pull one up on me with the pit stop. So it was a really frustrating end for me, especially because all the good work we did on Friday and Saturday counted for nothing”.

Kimi Raikkonen led his teammate Sebastian Vettel across to the line as Ferrari claimed fourth and fifth positions.