It occurred to me this morning, while watching the qualifying session for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, that I hadn’t written about the last race, two weeks ago, in Singapore.
My initial reaction was that, like a few other races this year, not too much happened.
Yes, there was a start line accident, caused by too many drivers trying to be on the same piece of tarmac at any one time, but I really couldn’t think of much else that happened.
There were no start line issues really – no clutch dramas that have plagued the started of the Mercedes drivers this year. But the chaos behind meant that it didn’t matter. Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India was the victim of the accident caused by Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr trying to be in the same place as him.
His accident sent the Safety Car out – meaning the race maintains it’s 100% Safety Car record. One marshal near turn one had not yet returned to his post, and had to sprint for cover as the cars hammered towards him approaching top speed. He was still running alongside the track as Rosberg and the rest came by. All was well – although it was a scary moment.
Towards the end of the race, there seemed to be a threat to Rosberg from Daniel Ricciardo but there were too few laps left for that to happen.
In the end, he held on to win in his 200th race and send his teammate back to 8 points behind in the title race.
Mercedes can equal the record for the longest winning streak by an F1 team at the next round of the championship – an eleventh win would tie the record set by McLaren in 1988. The team can also seal the Constructor’s Championship by getting both drivers on the podium – and 1-2 or a 1-3 will do the job.