F1: Ten Glorious Years of Singapore Grand Prix

#8 2016: Nico Rosberg’s Salvo

Nico Rosberg surging ahead

An innocuous race, in what looked like Nico Rosberg driving a lights-to-flag race, suddenly got enlivened when Mercedes moved Lewis Hamilton to a three-stop strategy to take back the third position from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Remember, for this edition of Singapore Grand Prix, Pirelli had brought softest of all tire compounds, the ultrasoft, spicing up the race.

The Lewis Hamilton’s third stop on lap 45 had a domino effect, with Ferrari responding to it by stopping Kimi, and Red Bull responding to Kimi’s stop by pitting Daniel Ricciardo.

This, in turn, forced Mercedes to contemplate about bringing in Rosberg to protect his place from Ricciardo who was trying to use his new tires to more than makeup for the pit stop loss over Nico with old tires.

Nico Rosberg hung on to the lead for the last 14 laps to take the chequered flag by a slender 0.488 seconds to reclaim the championship lead and his eighth victory of the season.

An impressive out lap and Nico hitting back markers forced Mercedes to leave Nico out, in a circuit, where track position is critical.

Below the top four, Sebastian Vettel drove an impressive race, starting from last on the grid because of engine related penalties to finish fifth. He started on soft, running long, before opting for two back-to-back ultrasoft runs.

The other top ten drivers were Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Danii Kvyat, and Kevin Magnussen.

At the start, Nico Rosberg waltzed ahead. Unlike in the previous races (particularly in Hungary and Germany), he did not expose him to the fast-starting Hamilton.

At the end of the formation lap, Rosberg slowed his pace - backing up the pack and controlling everyone's tires, engine, brake and clutch temperatures. A decisive moment, not only in the race but also in the 2016 championship battle.