Nico Rosberg left Singapore with a fourth place finish, but remained baffled to why his Mercedes AMG PETRONAS team were so far off the pace around the Marina Bay circuit in comparison to the Scuderia Ferrari and Infiniti Red Bull Racing teams.
Rosberg was hampered by a change of start procedure after issues with his engine on the installation laps ahead of the race, but was unable to get close to the drivers ahead of him, finishing well adrift of the podium places despite two safety car periods closing up the field.
“Singapore was a disappointing weekend for my team,” said Rosberg. “We were far off the pace the whole weekend and Lewis [Hamilton’s] car had to retire.
“I really hope that these were unique circumstances and our car didn’t suit the track and conditions. The problem is that we don’t really understand why Red Bull and Ferrari were so much quicker here.
“The start of the race was a bit chaotic. In the installation laps my engine went off a few times, so I couldn’t do the same start procedure, which I practised 100 times. I had to adapt but it worked out okay, so I was able to keep the positions.
“P4 was the maximum today, so we have a lot of work to do for Suzuka to understand what went wrong.”
