Singapore performance Rosberg’s best ever, says Wolff

Rosberg was in unbeatable form in Singapore as he captured a dominant pole position and held off a late surge from Daniel Ricciardo to retake the lead of the world championship.

And with teammate Lewis Hamilton struggling to find the right setup around the Marina Bay circuit and only managing to finish third, Wolff was in no doubts about just how good Rosberg's performance had been.

“I've known Nico since 2013 and that is the best Nico Rosberg I have ever seen throughout a weekend since then,” explained Wolff.

Rosberg's victory was his first triumph around the streets of Singapore – and Wolff suggested it was characteristic of performances Hamilton had so often delivered in the past.

“We have the tendency of saying that Lewis has an awesome pace, and this is what we have seen with Nico this weekend – he was just blindingly fast,” he said.

“He was six-tenths quicker than P2 in qualifying in Singapore – something we are not used to seeing at all here. And in the same way he drove the race. He had a great start, controlled the pace and on the contrary, Lewis didn't have a clean weekend.

“He was lacking laps in order to find the right setup so he couldn't really choose the direction and from then on went backwards.”

No momentum

Although Rosberg has won three races in a row now, Wolff was eager not to read too much in to the fact that the momentum of the title chase appeared to have swung back in his favour.

“We have the tendency of talking one up and the other one down,” he said. “We have had this for three years. Since the two of them have been fighting for the championship, you have seen those waves.

“I remember talking about Lewis' momentum a couple of weeks ago and suddenly we have this mega Nico weekend, and in two weeks we will see if that changes or stays the same in Malaysia.”

Wolff also reckoned that you could not read too much in to Hamilton's recent run of defeats – because his chance at Spa was hit by engine penalties and his result in Italy was wrecked by a poor start.

“Spa wasn't a real good opportunity for him because of the engine penalty and here it just started on the wrong foot," said Wolff. "He couldn't recover.

“In Singapore if you are lacking laps in free practice and lacking direction on where to take the setup, it is a vicious circle.

“Confidence is key around Singapore and if your team-mate gets out of the block in the way Nico did this weekend, it becomes very difficult. Lewis is the first one to acknowledge that.”