Lewis Hamilton be worried? That is the question which hung in the damp air of Singapore long after Nico Rosberg tasted what must have been some of the sweetest champagne of his career.
If Hamilton were an avid student of Formula One, he would be deeply concerned as the season reaches this critical juncture, for his Mercedes team-mate will have to confound history not to be crowned world champion at the end of the year. No driver has ever won eight races in a season and not taken the title. Yet, a fountain of knowledge on the sport he has so adorned, Hamilton is not.
What might cause just a hint of anxiety is the manner of Rosberg’s victory this weekend, not to mention the fact that his team-mate is leading the standings again, by eight points.
Daniel Ricciardo may have hounded the German in the closing stages with a barn-storming charge after going into the pits for fresh rubber, one which took him within just 0.4 seconds of victory, but really Rosberg was supreme.
Qualifying was particularly immense, putting breathing space between him and Ricciardo on the front row, while annihilating Hamilton in a show of strength we have rarely seen from Rosberg. Then, in the race he was like a bullet off the line, controlling proceedings perfectly, managing fragile brakes all the while, until Red Bull’s roll of the dice nearly spoiled his day.
The only man who could justifiably claim to have done a better job than Rosberg under the lights of Marina Bay was Sebastian Vettel, something of a specialist at the street circuit. The four-time champion started dead last, carving his way through the field with some memorable passes to take fifth.
But it is the form of the other man on the grid gunning for a fourth title which was the principal preoccupation afterwards. While suggestions of Hamilton’s demise are massively premature – remember at Monza just two weeks ago he was just as dominant in qualifying over his Mercedes team-mate, only to fluff the start – this is at least a race which should prompt him to pause for a moment, with just six rounds of this marathon season to go.
Perhaps the most curious element on Sunday was that Hamilton was not in contention throughout. Brake problems, also suffered by Rosberg, made this race, he claimed, a “nightmare”. He was a bystander, relegated to scrapping with Kimi Raikkonen for third. At least he won that fight, in part thanks to some more suspect strategy from Ferrari.
Just 200 miles away in Malaysia in two weeks’ time we will find out if Hamilton can come back on terms with his team-mate. The three-time champion was not exactly oozing confidence. No tantrums, just terse answers.
Was this just a one-off? “The next race will tell,” he said. “I’m not really thinking too much about it at the moment. Nico just did an exceptional job this weekend and we didn’t. What it’s going to take? Just some good weekends which we’ve had in the past. It’s a bunch of s***, a combination of things altogether which ultimately make a perfect weekend.”
What has changed in Rosberg since the summer break is hard to discern. Apparently in the shutdown the 31-year-old slept more and turned his phone off for two weeks. But he said there was no magic bullet which enabled him to win three races in a row, turning a 19-point deficit into an eight-point advantage.
“The whole weekend went perfectly,” he added. “But my team-mate is still Lewis and he always comes back strong, even after difficult weekends.”
This one was a difficult watch for the first hour and a half, particularly so for the marshal who was still left on the side of the track as the race restarted on lap three following Nico Hülkenberg’s impact with the wall at the start. But in a flash it turned from tiresome to thrilling.
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