Rosberg retakes lead in Singapore

German wins as Hamilton finishes third to go eight points clear at top

SINGAPORE: Nico Rosberg won the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position yesterday to seize the drivers’ world championship lead from Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who finished third.

The German held off Red Bull’s late-charging Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.4 seconds to win his third straight race and establish an eight-point lead over title-holder Hamilton in the standings.

It proved a tense finish as traffic prevented Rosberg pitting for new tyres near the end and Ricciardo, after his stop, closed the gap from more than 20 seconds to mere fractions over the final 14 laps.

“It’s been an awesome weekend,” said Rosberg, as he celebrated victory in what was his 200th race. “Today, great start, I had a good car in the race. Of course, Daniel tried to pull one up on me with the pit stop at the end there, but it worked out.”



Ricciardo was still happy despite not quite being able to secure a first victory of the season.

“We’ve come very close this year on numerous occasions, but I’m not going to be disappointed,” said the Australian. “I’m not going to stand here disappointed; we gave it a good shot and got within half-a-second.”

There was drama at the start as Nico Hulkenberg hit Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso and careered across the track before smashing into the pit lane wall and bringing out the safety car.



When the race restarted on lap three, Rosberg darted away into the lead only for there to be a heart-stopping moment.

A marshal was still on the track clearing debris, apparently unaware the race had restarted, and just managed to run out of the way as the field flashed past.

Meanwhile Raikkonen’s teammate Sebastian Vettel had started last after a suspension failure in qualifying but gave a driving masterclass to finish fifth, ahead even of Max Verstappen who had begun 18 grid places ahead of the German.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2016.

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