Mercedes made it a double podium at the Singapore Grand prix and its motorsport director Toto Wolff defined the weekend at the Marina Bay circuit as Formula 1 at its best. Nico Rosberg took his 22nd career victory – his first at the Singapore race and eighth of the 2016 season so far on his 200th Grand Prix start.
Lewis Hamilton produced a battling drive to claim P3 – his 50th podium finish since joining the Silver Arrows in 2013. Nico (273) leads the Drivers’ Championship by eight points from Lewis (265) in P2.
Toto Wolff: The race in Singapore was F1 at its best
“What an incredible race: that was F1 at its best”, Wolff said. “Nico did a perfect job all weekend – after the stunning lap yesterday in qualifying, he managed his race in the most controlled way today, all the way to the final metres. We wanted to make a third stop with him but Ricciardo put in a stunning out-lap after his final stop – and Nico had traffic on the lap, which cost him time. When those factors combined, they meant he would have lost the position, so he had to tough it out in the lead – and he just made it. Initially we thought it would be comfortable, then it became clear it would be very close, and we saved all the tricks and engine modes for the final laps so he could fend off Ricciardo if he needed to.”
Lewis made a great recovery, Wolff added
“As for Lewis, it was a great recovery to come back to the podium after a difficult first half of the race and a tricky weekend. It just shows how important all the practice laps are if you want to reach the perfect set-up and preparation for the race. We didn’t give those to Lewis this weekend, which left him on the back foot from Saturday onwards. Taking a step back from the race, though, most of all I want to congratulate our team. A year ago this circuit, we were nowhere. Now we have come away with a double podium and an amazing win. It shows that we are able to learn the lessons of our failures and turn them into strengths. Next we head to Malaysia. That is another circuit where we failed to win last year. We will be aiming to turn that around, too.”
