Rosberg wins in Singaporeposted in F118 | 09 | 2016

    NICO ROSBERG DOMINATED the Singapore Grand Prix on his 200th Formula One start to win from pole position. The Mercedes driver’s eighth win of the season catapulted him into an eight-point lead in the title race ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The defending champ finished third.

    Worth mentioning, no driver who has won eight grands prix in a season has failed to win the world championship. Hamilton therefore has six races to re-write history.

    But what had looked like something of a procession for Rosberg was turned into a nail biter when Daniel Ricciardo, following the lead of Hamilton, opted to pit late in the race for new tyres.

    With new super-softs fitted to his Red Bull, Riccardo rejoined the race in second place 25s behind race leader Rosberg with 14 laps remaining. With seven remaining, the gap had been slashed to 5s as the Aussie delivered a set of searing lap times.

    Singapore-GP-2.jpg

    But a combination of traffic, Mercedes giving Rosberg the ‘hurry-up’ and a lack of laps, meant Ricciardo took the chequered flag just 0,4s behind the race winner, the third straight win for the Mercedes driver.

    The deployment of the safety car on the opening lap, in an incident which saw Nico Hulkenberg retire his damaged Force India, and Jenson Button’s McLaren suffer a damaged front wing, was followed by Rosberg quickly establishing a lead over Ricciardo.

    At the first round of pitstops, Mercedes fitted the soft compound Pirelli tyres, while Ricciardo stayed on super-softs. The decision had Hamilton moaning at his team over the radio.

    The three-times world champ’s mood only got worse when Kimi Raikkonen's super-soft-shod Ferrari got past just after half-distance after a lock-up from the Mercedes, relegating Hamilton to fourth.

    Singapore-GP-3.jpg

    Soon after, the second round of pitstops saw Hamilton emerge 18.9s behind Rosberg. This was quickly followed by Mercedes — whose two cars suffered ‘over-heating’ brake problems throughout the race — informing their world champ that they were switching to “plan B”.

    Hamilton then charged up behind Raikkonen before making an unexpected third stop for a set of ultra-softs with 16 laps to go.

    Caught unawares, Ferrari appeared to dither before making the decision to bring Raikkonen in, and Hamilton capitalised with a stunning lap to seal the undercut and reclaim third.

    With 14 laps remaining, Red Bull covered off both those drivers by bringing in Ricciardo.

    The incident at the start of the race was triggered the the slow getaway of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, which forced the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz and Huldenberg to take avoiding action. The resulting contact saw the Force India spin into the pitfall.

    Singapore-GP-4.jpg

    Four-time world champ Sebastian Vettel, who started from the back of the grid, charged through the field with a series of incisive overtaking manoeuvres, eventually finishing fifth, just behind his Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen.

    After a late move on Fernando Alonso's McLaren, Verstappen ended up sixth, one place ahead of the Spaniard.

    The top 10 was completed by the Force India of Sergio Perez, with Daniil Kvyat ninth in his Toro Rosso and Kevin Magnussen rounding off the top 10 in his Renault.

    Along with Huldenberg, Button retired his McLaren on the 43rd lap, eight laps after Valtteri Bottas was forced to garage his Williams.

    Formula 1— Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay Circuit (Result):

    1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 61 laps 1h 55m 48.950s

    2. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG-Heuer +00.488s

    3. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes +08.038s

    4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +10.219s

    5. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +27.694s

    6. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG Heuer +71.197s

    7. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +89.198s

    8. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +111.062s

    9. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari +111.557s

    10. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault +119.952s

    11. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

    12. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +1 lap

    13. Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap

    14. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

    15. Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap

    16. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault +1 lap

    17. Pascal Wehrlein GER Manor-Mercedes +1 lap

    18. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap

    19. Esteban Ocon FRA Manor-Mercedes +2 laps

    Retired:

    Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 43 laps completed

    Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 35 laps completed

    Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 0 laps completed

    Dns: Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

    Fastest lap

    Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m 47.187s

    Related: Rosberg dominates as Hamilton stutters

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    Jim McGill

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