18 September,2016 09:58 AM IST | | PA Sport
Nico Rosberg left a beleaguered Lewis Hamilton trailing in his wake after he secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix in emphatic fashion.
Nico Rosberg celebrates after taking pole position in Singapore on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
Nico Rosberg celebrates after taking pole position in Singapore on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
Singapore: Nico Rosberg left a beleaguered Lewis Hamilton trailing in his wake after he secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix in emphatic fashion.
Rosberg, who will start his 200th Formula One race on Sunday, was a crushing seven tenths of a second faster than an off-colour Hamilton would could qualify only third at the Marina Bay street circuit.
Daniel Ricciardo split the championship rivals after he hauled his Red Bull on to the front row, albeit half a second adrift of Rosberg's outstanding lap.
Hamilton holds a slender two-point advantage over Rosberg, but by the time the chequered flag falls on Sunday he could find himself back behind his Mercedes team-mate in the championship race.
Rosberg, a winner of the last two grands prix, is enjoying a purple patch and his performance here on Saturday will surely rank as one of his best in the sport. His quickest lap of one minute and 42.584 seconds, at a circuit where he has failed to finish on the podium since the very first staged here in 2008, will leave Hamilton scratching his head. And with overtaking largely impossible under the lights, Rosberg will start as the firm favourite for what would be the eighth victory of a season which could yet herald his first title.
