After being unable to qualify on the front two rows, Mercedes and Nico Rosberg knew that they would be unlikely to win the race and at best could hope to finish on the podium and to try to better his team-mate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton.
As the race unfolded, Hamilton retired due to engine trouble which meant that Rosberg would be able to eat into his lead and he did so by finishing fourth. However, he will feel that he has been unable to cut the lead as much as he could have due to issues with his car and due to Vettel’s win, it now means that Vettel is breathing down his compatriot’s neck as they both chase down Hamilton.
Rosberg, speaking after the race said: ““Singapore was a disappointing weekend for my team. We were far off the pace the whole weekend and Lewis’ car had to retire. So I really hope that these were unique circumstances and our car didn’t suit the track and conditions.”
“The problem is that we don’t really understand why Red Bull and Ferrari were so much quicker here. The start of the race was a bit chaotic. In the installation laps, my engine went off a few times, so I couldn’t do the same start procedure, which I practised 100 times.”
“I had to adapt but it worked out okay, so I was able to keep the positions. P4 was the maximum today, so we have a lot of work to do for Suzuka to understand what went wrong.”
