Formula 1: Nico Rosberg won the Singapore Grand Prix and is the new world leader

Nico Rosberg takes the lead of the Formula 1 Championship

The German Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) took the lead of the Formula 1 World Championship by winning the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday on the Marina Bay street circuit. Meanwhile, his English teammate and rival, Lewis Hamilton, finished third.

Kevin Magnussen walks away after a terrible accident at 320km/h

Nico Rosberg finished ahead of the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton in a race where Spanish Fernando Alonso (McLaren) finished seventh. After this race, Rosberg is eight points ahead of Hamilton, with six races left in the Championship.

The Finnish Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) finished fourth, ahead of his German teammate Sebastian Vettel, who made a remarkable comeback by advancing seventeen places from last on the grid to fifth place in the race.

The Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished sixth, just ahead of the double world champion Fernando Alonso, the only Spanish driver to score points in Singapore, with Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) finishing fourteenth.

The Mexican Sergio Pérez (Force India) also made notable progress. Starting from eighteenth place due to a ten-place grid penalty, 'Checo' recovered all the positions to finish eighth.

The Russian Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and the Danish Kevin Magnussen (Renault), who finished ninth and tenth respectively, also scored points, which the Mexican Esteban Gutiérrez (Haas) just missed out on, finishing eleventh in Marina Bay.

The next race of the Championship, the sixteenth out of twenty-one races, will be held on October 2nd at the Sepang Circuit, home of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Championship Standings

Pre-Race

The German Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) will start from pole position in the Singapore Grand Prix, his 200th race in Formula 1. He secured the top spot in qualifying on Saturday, ahead of the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull).

Thanks to a best lap time of 1 minute, 42 seconds and 584 milliseconds, Rosberg is in an ideal position to gain points on his teammate and championship leader, Lewis Hamilton, who will start from the second row alongside Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

"It may have been one of the top three laps of my life," said Rosberg after securing his 29th pole position in F1. The reigning world runner-up has won the previous races in Belgium and Italy, bringing him within two points of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion.

"It's not my weekend, and Nico did a good job. I have no excuses," Hamilton said at the press conference. The British driver will start just behind Rosberg, who was the fastest in two out of three practice sessions and dominated the qualifying session, with over half a second advantage over Ricciardo.

"I had a clean lap in Q3. Not as good as Nico's, but good enough to start on the front row," said the smiling Australian, who has not been on the top step of the podium since 2014.

In addition, he outperformed his teammate Verstappen, who has a more advanced Renault engine than him.

The Ferraris once again disappointed. Kimi Raikkonen will start from the third row alongside the surprising Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), behind the Mercedes and Red Bulls.

It will be even more difficult for Sebastian Vettel, who won in Singapore last year, as he will start from the back row of the grid due to his elimination in Q1 due to a mechanical problem. "I could have fought for the front row," said a visibly disappointed Vettel.

The Toro Rossos outperformed a Force India, driven by the German Nico Hülkenberg, and the McLaren of Fernando Alonso, who will start from the fifth row alongside the Mexican Sergio Pérez, in the other Force India. Unless "Checo" is penalized for not reducing his speed under yellow flags in Q2.

There was disappointment for the two Haas drivers, especially Romain Grosjean, who continued his bad luck in Marina Bay. His off-track excursion at the end of Q2 caused a 10-minute delay in Q3 to repair the safety barriers. He will start from fifteenth place, just behind the other Mexican driver on the grid, Esteban Gutiérrez.

(AFP)