Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and More
As he celebrated his 200th Formula One appearance, Nico Rosberg claimed the best victory of his career in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.
The German sealed a comprehensive pole position at the Marina Bay track on Saturday and led comfortably for much of the race, but Daniel Ricciardo's sudden pit stop just 14 laps from the chequered flag dragged Rosberg into a fight he didn't want.
With much fresher, faster tyres, the Red Bull driver caught the leader by almost three seconds per lap at one stage, and Rosberg suddenly became very vulnerable after being in control for so long.
Yet the Mercedes driver held his nerve to claim his eighth win of 2016 and his third in succession, and the German has revealed why he was not too concerned about Ricciardo as the race entered its final lap.
Rosberg's latest victory allowed him to retake the lead of the drivers' standings, having trailed Lewis Hamilton by 19 points just a month ago.
At a circuit where he has excelled in previous years, Hamilton was unable to come close to his Mercedes team-mate in Singapore, and former grand prix driver Martin Brundle has expressed his concern for the three-time world champion ahead of the final six races.
Elsewhere, Daniil Kvyat has admitted he was fallen in love with F1 all over again after a confidence-boosting performance at Marina Bay, where he went head-to-head with the driver who replaced him at Red Bull, while Fernando Alonso has revealed he was hopeful of a rare podium finish after an excellent start.
Closing our post-Singapore GP roundup is Romain Grosjean, who has said he still has faith in Haas after a weekend to forget.
Nico Rosberg Was Confident Daniel Ricciardo Wouldn't Get Past in Singapore Scrap
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Rosberg has revealed he was convinced Ricciardo wouldn't be able to pass him during their late fight for the win in the Singapore GP.
After setting pole position by a margin of 0.531 seconds on Saturday, the German led comfortably for much of the race, but his position came under serious threat in the latter stages.
Having pitted for ultrasoft-compound tyres on Lap 47 of 61, Ricciardo rapidly caught Rosberg—who was fitted with older, harder soft rubber and forced to manage his brakes—in the closing laps of the grand prix.
The drivers were separated by just 0.488 seconds at the chequered flag as Rosberg held on to secure his eighth win of the season and retake the lead of the drivers' standings.
Speaking in the post-race FIA press conference, Rosberg has admitted he was relieved to have made it to the finish line but knew he had won the race when he started the final lap as Ricciardo's tyres were past their best.
He said:
"Like with ten laps to go, or 15 laps to go, just after the pitstop, the team said he would be with me at the end of the race, which was the case, so for sure I had to be on it in that last stint and get everything right and nail all those laps. It really worked out, with the management, all the way to the end. The tyre lasted just right, so very, very happy, of course. By the time I started the last lap I knew it was going to be enough because Daniel also, his tyres weren’t as fresh any more, so by that time it was OK.
"
Per the same source, Rosberg outlined his troubles with brake management, explaining that while "it worked out fine," the brakes were "just on the limit" and "not easy to manage throughout the whole race."
Rosberg also paid tribute to his Mercedes team for bouncing back from a poor 2015 Singapore GP—when Hamilton qualified 1.5 seconds adrift of pole position—to win the race for the second time in three years.
He stated: "It really shows that not only do we have the best car but also we have the best, most competent group of engineers to extract the potential from the best car, from every weekend, changing the car, adapting to the new circuits, to the different circuits and understanding."
Martin Brundle Fears Lewis Hamilton Is 'On the Back Foot' in 2016 Title Race
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Brundle believes Hamilton is now "slightly on the back foot" in the fight for the 2016 world championship after losing the lead of the drivers' standings to Rosberg in the Singapore GP.
After a run of six victories in seven races, Hamilton held a 19-point lead over Rosberg following July's German GP, but the Brit has failed to win a grand prix since F1's summer break came to an end.
Rosberg's three consecutive wins in Belgium, Italy and Singapore—where Hamilton finished third after qualifying 0.704 seconds adrift of pole position—has allowed him to overhaul his team-mate's advantage, with the German eight points ahead with six races remaining.
While Brundle remains unsure whether Rosberg truly believes he can win the world championship, the former grand prix driver feels Hamilton is under pressure ahead of the final series of races, telling Sky Sports:
"I don't know whether he believes it or not, it's so difficult to drill down with Nico. He keeps defaulting to, 'Lewis is the world champion, he is the man to beat'.
Do I think he can win the world championship? I'm increasingly thinking so, yes. His qualifying is good and if he gets off the line his race craft seems fine. Yes, he wins when he's at the front, but he keeps getting at the front.
Three on the bounce and 75 points in four weeks, faultlessly. It looks like it's Lewis who is slightly on the back foot.
Thinking back to Monza, when it all settled out and Lewis' bad start was out of the way, he didn't start catching Nico did he? He didn't have the pace we sometimes see he has in a straight fight, which makes me think he hasn't got quite enough there at the moment.
"
Damon Hill told the same source the "bad luck" Hamilton has suffered in 2016 has been a major factor in Rosberg's turnaround, but the 1996 world champion agreed that the latter is beginning to grow into the stature of a world champion.
He said: "The pendulum is swinging back towards Nico. I think his confidence is so much higher; he's driving to another level to what he has in the past, and I think he's a very strong challenger to Lewis."
Per Sky Sports' Pete Gill, Hamilton said he was not overly concerned about being outperformed by Rosberg in Singapore, explaining how he has to take the defeat "on the chin" after a "very trying weekend."
Per the same source, team boss Toto Wolff predicted the championship battle between his drivers will go down to the wire, adding: "They are so close together in terms of performance. One bad weekend is enough and the other has an advantage."
Daniil Kvyat Feeling 'Pretty Good' After Strong Singapore GP Performance
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Kvyat has revealed he has rediscovered his love of F1 after producing a strong performance in the Singapore GP.
The Russian has struggled since being replaced by Max Verstappen at Red Bull ahead of May's Spanish GP, scoring just two points in the 10 races since his return to Toro Rosso.
With the nature of the Marina Bay track favouring the STR11 car, however, Kvyat excelled in Singapore, qualifying seventh and running sixth in the early stages of the race, when he defended robustly from a slow-starting Verstappen.
The 22-year-old pressurised Sergio Perez in the closing laps, but Toro Rosso's lack of straight-line speed left him unable to pass the Mercedes-powered Force India driver for eighth place.
Kvyat feels he has got his confidence back after securing ninth, his best result since his podium finish in April's Chinese GP.
According to ESPN F1's Lewis Larkam, he said:
"I was fighting and I think I did a good job. It's good you know—[Verstappen] had the faster car, but I kept him behind for two stints, which makes me think I'm pretty good! The racing over this past month has been a big test of my passion but I'm loving it again so that's mega. I pushed to the very last centimetre and left myself on the track.
It was a very enjoyable race—not that enjoyable behind Perez at the end as we didn't have the straight-line speed to overtake. I was pushing but without any gains. It was a shame but I'm very happy overall.
We knew we could do a very good race here so we were pushing very hard and it was very enjoyable. It was shame we didn't risk enough with the strategy but that's the only complaint I have about it.
[...]
I feel I have my confidence back and with that I feel we can do good things.
"
Per Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble, team principal Christian Horner said Red Bull never pressurised their B-team into forcing Kvyat to move aside for Verstappen, suggesting the pair were racing each other and the former would have ignored any team orders regardless.
Verstappen agreed he should have been able to pass Kvyat without external help but said the Toro Rosso was a bit aggressive during their "quite intense" battle.
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Fernando Alonso Dared to Dream of Singapore GP Podium After Strong Start
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Alonso has admitted he was hopeful of reaching the podium in the Singapore GP after making a strong start to the race.
With five podium finishes, including two victories, in his eight previous appearances at the Marina Bay circuit, the two-time world champion is a Singapore specialist and produced another strong performance at the track on Sunday.
After starting ninth, Alonso surged up to fifth at the first corner and held the position throughout the opening phase of the race before ultimately finishing seventh behind Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen.
Prior to the weekend, Alonso suggested his McLaren-Honda team were capable of being the third-best team on the grid in Singapore, per ESPN F1's Laurence Edmondson.
And although the outfit failed to meet that target, the 35-year-old said McLaren could be proud of their efforts in Singapore, as reported by Autosport (h/t Eurosport):
"The start was very good, P5 in the first corner. At one moment I even hoped for a podium position if something happened in front of me.
I was on the outside because the first couple of metres were good, and then in the first corner I braked very late on the outside to pass Kvyat and nearly [Kimi] Raikkonen.
Everything went fine, and sometimes you need to get lucky. Sometimes you go from hero to zero and today was a good one.
I was thinking about the podium because in Singapore some [strange] things can happen.
Seventh was the maximum, the first of the rest after Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.
We were not the fourth-quickest team here.
Today I think we maximised what we had and next time we can improve.
"
Per the same source, 2009 world champion Jenson Button praised his team-mate's performance, explaining Alonso "did a really good job" as the MP4-31 car wasn't "quick enough" to finish as high as seventh.
Meanwhile, racing director Eric Boullier described Alonso's performance as "forceful and competitive," telling McLaren's official website: "He made a strong start and then maintained impressive and consistent lap-times all afternoon. His was a great drive by any standards."
Romain Grosjean Still Has Faith in Haas Despite Disastrous Singapore GP Weekend
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Grosjean has said he still has full confidence in his Haas team despite enduring a disastrous weekend at the Singapore GP.
The Frenchman's running was interrupted throughout the Marina Bay weekend, with an engine-inlet air leak preventing Grosjean from setting a timed lap in the first practice session on Friday before spinning and damaging his rear wing later that day.
Grosjean spun out of qualifying on Saturday and then suffered a gearbox-change grid penalty ahead of the race, with a brake-by-wire issue forcing him to retire before the grand prix even started.
Those problems raised questions over the team's relationship with Grosjean, who has frequently criticised the newcomers over pit-to-car radio in 2016 and registered just one points finish in the last 11 races.
But the 30-year-old has maintained his trust in Haas, calling for the team to bounce back at the next round in Malaysia.
Per Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde, he said:
"I'm all fine. I'm all confident about the future. Right now what we want to do is to make sure our updates work well in Malaysia and get things together to have a smooth weekend.
I thought after yesterday it couldn't get any worse, but unfortunately it did.
I felt so bad for the guys, who have been working so hard to get the car back together and try to recover the time we lost in FP1. But we lost the brake-by-wire and we couldn't race like this. We don't know what happened. It's hard on everyone.
We couldn't even do a lap. The brake pedal was not working. We just couldn't find the problem and the pedal was going to the floor.
"
On Grosjean's miserable weekend, team principal Guenther Steiner told Haas' official website: "I think he’s happy the weekend's over and he can focus on the next one. His weekend started badly and ended worse."
Per ESPN F1's Edmondson, Steiner has defended Esteban Gutierrez after the Mexican attracted criticism from Mercedes boss Wolff, who accused him of interfering with the battle for the race win between Rosberg and Ricciardo by not obeying blue flags.
Steiner argued Gutierrez has become "a little bit of a punching ball" after refusing to move aside for Hamilton in Hungary, where television pictures showed the three-time world champion waving his middle finger at the Haas driver.
He said: "I think it all started with Lewis giving him the finger. It all started with that one, so I don't think that's a correct gesture from a Mercedes driver. So I think it all started with that."
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