Mercedes boss Toto Wolff predicts title fight will "go down the wire"
Sunday 18 September 2016 21:31, UK
Lewis Hamilton has accepted that Nico Rosberg was a deserved victor of the Singapore GP after losing the lead of the world championship to his team-mate.
"Big congratulations to Nico, he drove fantastically well all weekend and fully deserved the win," said Hamilton.
But the Mercedes driver described his own weekend as "very trying" after being stuck on the backfoot throughout following a mechanical failure in Friday practice. Unable to dial in his W07 car for the tricky and demanding Singapore circuit, Hamilton never appeared capable of challenging for victory as Rosberg secured his third win in a row.
"I feel like I did everything I could," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after finishing third, 10 seconds down on Rosberg.
"A very trying weekend, these ones come along sometimes and you just have to take it on the chin."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff conceded on Saturday night that the team "had failed" Hamilton after the Englishman was forced to miss most of Practice Two.
"He started on the back foot by not having enough laps," acknowledged Wolff after the race. "He couldn't really double check the set-up, he wasn't happy with the set-up, the car wasn't like it was. He got off the start well but when the brake temps kicked in it took him a while to manage them. It was just a bad weekend for him."
A smart strategy call did at least enable Hamilton to salvage third place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen after a track error had earlier allowed the Ferrari driver to close in and pass his Mercedes.
"We were both pushing quite hard in that stint and we both wouldn't have made it to the end at that pace we were going," said Hamilton.
"I was pushing on that out lap to see if we could undercut him, and fortunately we did."
Rosberg, who was 43 points clear of Hamilton after the first four races of the year but 19 behind at the summer break, now leads his title rival by eight points with six races remaining.
"They are so close together in terms of performance," concluded Wolff. "One bad weekend is enough and the other has an advantage. It's going to go down the wire."
Don't miss the F1 Report for all the reaction and analysis from the Singapore GP. F1 technical expert Craig Scarborough joins Natalie Pinkham and Marc Priestley in the studio at 8:30pm on Wednesday on Sky Sports F1.
