Nico Rosberg continued his strong form into the month of September, storming to victories at both the Italian and Singapore Grands Prix.
After taking his engine penalty in the previous race in Belgium, Lewis Hamilton could fully attack with no impending grid penalties. The Brit stormed to pole in Monza by half a second ahead of Mercedes teammate Rosberg. Going into the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton lead the drivers’ standings by nine points with Mercedes boasting a sizeable 181 point lead over Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
Hamilton, however, was unable to convert pole position into race victory after making another poor getaway surrendering the lead to Rosberg, who would dominate the 53-lap race.
Hamilton dropped to sixth on the opening lap however would soon recover and make his way back up to second position jumping the two Ferraris through the stops. Vettel joined the Mercedes duo on the podium finishing ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas.
A fortnight later was a trip to the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. Rosberg put together one of his strongest weekends as an F1 driver, storming to pole position and taking the victory. The German’s pole position lap around the tricky, bumpy Singapore circuit was faultless, storming to top spot by six-tenths of a second. Hamilton could only manage third behind Ricciardo.
Rosberg continued this dominance into Sunday’s race however was put under serious pressure by Ricciardo after the Red Bull team opted for an aggressive strategy opting for the supersoft tyres. Hamilton struggled but managed to beat Raikkonen to third. Vettel recovered from the back of the grid to fifth.
Rosberg stormed to the top of the drivers’ championship, leading Hamilton by eight points. Ricciardo remained ahead of Vettel and Raikkonen while Williams dropped behind Force India in the constructors’ championship.
