Reuters
Singapore, Sept 18: Germany’s Nico Rosberg celebrated his 200th Formula One race by retaking the championship lead from Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton after a pole to flag win here Sunday.
After a chaotic start that brought out a safety car on the opening lap, Rosberg stayed clear of Red Bull’s late charging Australian Daniel Ricciardo at the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Triple World Champion Hamilton completed the podium in third place. The German’s third victory in a row, and 22nd of his career, lifted Rosberg on to 273 points, eight clear of Hamilton, with six rounds remaining and Ricciardo a distant third on 179 in the title race.
Rosberg had started two points behind Hamilton and, despite leading comfortably halfway though the race, crossed the line just 0.488 seconds ahead of Ricciardo after having to complete the last 28 laps on the same soft tyres.
Red Bull opted for a bold tyre strategy to put pressure on Rosberg late on and Ricciardo was closing at roughly three seconds a lap in the closing stages but ran out of road before the chequered flag.
Hamilton had his own private battle with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen behind the leading duo, the Briton losing third place to the Finn after a mistake on lap 34 but reclaiming the position with a timely pit stop to hold on to the finish.
Sebastian Vettel drove brilliantly from last place on the starting grid to claim fifth place in the other Ferrari.The safety car was deployed immediately after the start when Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India, eighth on the grid, suffered a heavy crash after making contact with Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso.