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F1 Singapore GP: Rosberg delighted with ‘one of my top three laps’

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has described his stunning Singapore Grand Prix pole position as "one of my top three laps".

Rosberg, who was quickest in both FP2 and FP3, posted a 1 minute 42.584 second lap in the top-ten shootout to leave him over half a second up on Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and a massive seven tenths up on team-mate and Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton in third.

"Yeah, definitely happy with that one for my 200th grand prix and for sure one of my top three laps. It really went well," Rosberg said.

"At times in qualifying it wasn't clear how we were going to stack up against Red Bull for example because they were very quick in Q2 on the supersoft. So, I knew I had to give it everything and I really pulled one out of the bag, which was cool."

Asked if he could have gone any quicker, he replied: "It is difficult to say, but there is always a little fraction here and there that could be better. But it felt great all round and [it is] really cool [to get pole]."

Meanwhile, looking to the race on Sunday, Rosberg said he will be giving it his utmost to make it three wins in a row - and to become the first non-World Champion to stand on the top step of the podium at the Marina Bay circuit.

"I will give it everything tomorrow, but I was surprised to hear that only three people have won the Singapore Grand Prix in all these years. But anyway I am feeling good for tomorrow and of course I have a good chance."

Pressed on if he is concerned about Ricciardo - given the Red Bulls will start on the supersoft tyres and not the ultra softs like the rest of the top-ten, Rosberg added: "Worried no, but for sure I will be keeping an eye on him yes because they were quick on race pace on Friday and I think probably more so than on the qualifying pace. So for sure he is going to be a threat, especially with that supersoft tyre."

"Strategy is one of our strengths [though], one of our many strengths. So, I don't have any concerns there," he continued, "but of course we need to work out the best plan for tomorrow.

"But I think we are looking good and the final thing to say is it shows the quality of our team at the moment, that this being our most difficult track last year, and we really came away and learned what went wrong and really turned things around and now really dominated this weekend up to now. Of course there is still the race, but last year we were nowhere in qualifying, so it really shows the quality of the team to understand something like that and turn it around in such a way."

Zdroj: crash.net