A superb drive saw Nico Rosberg win
2016 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix after holding off a late
charge from Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.4s. With Mercedes team mate
Lewis Hamilton finishing third. Rosberg now heads his team mate in the
standings by eight points.
Kimi Raikkonen narrowly missed out
on a podium for Ferrari, while team mate Sebastian Vettel – voted Driver of the
Day by Fans followed him home a strong fifth after starting from the back of
the grid. Max Verstappen was sixth for Red Bull, ahead of McLaren’s Fernando
Alonso, with Force India’s Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso Daniil Kvyat and Renault’s
Kevin Magnussen completing the top ten. It was a race book-ended by drama.
As Rosberg headed Ricciardo,
Hamilton and Raikkonen into the first corner, Max Verstappen made a slow start.
And as Carlos Sainz took his Toro Rosso to the right of the Red Bull, he came
into contract with Nico Hulkenberg Force India which was spun across the
Dutchman bows and hard into the pit wall. Rosberg easily maintained an
advantage over Ricciardo, to whom Hamilton could offer no challenge as he
struggled throughout with brake temperatures.
Rosberg eighth victory of the season
makes him the first non-champion to win in Singapore and puts him on 273
points, to Hamilton 265. The reigning champion was 7.5s second behind
Ricciardo, but crucially 2.1s ahead of Raikkonen, whose ultrasofts were fading.
Fernando Alonso brought his McLaren home
seventh, having at one stage run as high as fifth, as Perez just held off Kvyat
by four tenths for eighth.
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