Nico Rosberg proved to be the closest challenger to the dominant Sebastian Vettel in Singapore GP qualiying, and the Mercedes driver will start alongside his fellow German in Sunday’s race.
Vettel stood on his time from his first run and left Rosberg and others to attack it with their second runs, and Nico missed stealing pole by just 0.091s.
“Unfortunately Sebastian especially has been really quick the whole weekend but it was very, very close in the end,” said Rosberg. “A pity, because one tenth more, with the way they gambled in the last qualifying – one tenth more would have been possible somehow. That would have been great, but anyway, second place is still a good result. And it gives me a good position to start the race tomorrow and I’m also very confident about our race pace. It’s looking OK, so I think a great result is possible.”
Rosberg, who won in Monaco this year, has been quick in Singapore in the past.
“I really like street tracks generally. Always been quick on them and again today I felt comfortable with the car. Really the whole weekend, the progress has been nice. Starting on Friday, I wasn’t very happy with the car and everything, wasn’t feeling very good.
“We just worked through it, and really optimised it and it was just perfect in qualifying then. It’s just everybody together: me with my engineers, the mechanics, everybody working together well. I’m pleased with second. I think Sebastian was out of reach this weekend, all weekend, so second is OK. And with a good race pace, should be good tomorrow.”
Asked about the chances of beating Vettel he said: “I’ll give it a go. For sure, he’s quicker on race pace, we saw that on Friday so if I can get by, then it’s possible that I can stay in front but it’s all down to the start. I think the left hand side has a little bit less grip than the right hand side on this track at the start but we will see. It’s possible.”
