Photo: Daimler AG
Both Mercedes-AMG F1 pilots had better results in this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix than at Monza two weekends ago, even though neither of them managed to cautch the podium.
After a qualifying session in which Nico Rosberg was just a hair behind race winner Sebastian Vettel (+0.092 seconds), the German only managed to finish fourth, while his team mate Lewis Hamilton came in fifth, both of them being inlfuenced by an unexpected Safety Car deployment in 25th lap.
Nico Rosberg: “I had a good start today and the pace of our car was really strong this evening. The safety car was unfortunate timing for us and perhaps it wasn’t the best decision to stay out but, at the time, we weren’t sure if our tires would be able to last the distance. I then had some rubber trapped in my front wing after the safety car period which cost me quite a lot of performance for some laps and had an impact on my race because the tires suffered more than would be normal. We could perhaps have been second today but events in the race just didn’t go our way so it is a little disappointing to only finish in fourth place. We now need to learn from this weekend and focus on the next race in Korea.
Lewis Hamilton: “That was a really tough race, probably the most physically demanding of the year. We tried our best and the car felt good tonight but unfortunately we paid the price for not qualifying further ahead yesterday. I didn’t have the best start and had to go wide to avoid Mark at turn one. From there, it was difficult to follow the race and my position. Whilst the timing of the safety car definitely didn’t help us, we need to go back through our strategy and see what we could possibly have done differently in that situation. I’m not sure we could have done what Fernando and Kimi did by staying out on that set of tires for so long, though. Of course, it’s a little disappointing to come away with only fifth place but I gave it my all out there and we’ll come back stronger. Our aim is to get back ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship and see if we can get another win before the end of the season.”
Mercedes-AMG F1 retains third position in the Constructors' Championship and is now seven points behind Ferrari rivals, while Lewis Hamilton is still third in the Drivers' Championship. The next race will take place in South Korea on October 6.
Nico Rosberg: “I had a good start today and the pace of our car was really strong this evening. The safety car was unfortunate timing for us and perhaps it wasn’t the best decision to stay out but, at the time, we weren’t sure if our tires would be able to last the distance. I then had some rubber trapped in my front wing after the safety car period which cost me quite a lot of performance for some laps and had an impact on my race because the tires suffered more than would be normal. We could perhaps have been second today but events in the race just didn’t go our way so it is a little disappointing to only finish in fourth place. We now need to learn from this weekend and focus on the next race in Korea.
Lewis Hamilton: “That was a really tough race, probably the most physically demanding of the year. We tried our best and the car felt good tonight but unfortunately we paid the price for not qualifying further ahead yesterday. I didn’t have the best start and had to go wide to avoid Mark at turn one. From there, it was difficult to follow the race and my position. Whilst the timing of the safety car definitely didn’t help us, we need to go back through our strategy and see what we could possibly have done differently in that situation. I’m not sure we could have done what Fernando and Kimi did by staying out on that set of tires for so long, though. Of course, it’s a little disappointing to come away with only fifth place but I gave it my all out there and we’ll come back stronger. Our aim is to get back ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship and see if we can get another win before the end of the season.”
Mercedes-AMG F1 retains third position in the Constructors' Championship and is now seven points behind Ferrari rivals, while Lewis Hamilton is still third in the Drivers' Championship. The next race will take place in South Korea on October 6.
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