Nico Rosberg maintained he is staying away from talks about championship race after regained the top spot in 2016 Formula One driver standings by winning the Singapore Grand Prix on 18 September.
The German driver fended off a stiff challenge from Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo to finish on the top step of the podium at the Marina Bay and go eight points clear of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the championship race. Rosberg took his tally to 273 after his maiden win in Singapore, which was also his third straight victory in the ongoing season.
It was not easy for the Silver Arrow driver at the Marina Bay as he had to complete his last 28 laps with same soft tyres while Ricciardo was cutting Rosberg's lead in the final moments of the race under the floodlights.
However, the 31-year-old maintained composure and clinched his eighth win of the season finishing 0.488s ahead of the Red Bull racer. Rosberg celebrated his 200th F1 race with a title at Marina Bay, which has been eluding him for long.
After taking a 43-point lead over Hamilton in the driver standings early in the season with four straight wins, Rosberg started to fall behind after he lost in Barcelona in May 2016. The Brit was leading the title race with six impressive wins in the season before his Mercedes teammate pushed him to the second spot with Sunday's win.
"It has been an awesome weekend here in Singapore for me, already yesterday with the pole lap and then today, a great start, had a good car in the race. Of course Daniel tried to pull one up on me with the pit stop in the end there. We knew it was going to be tight at the end, but it worked out, so I'm really, really happy," Rosberg was quoted as saying by Formula One official website.
"I'm not focused on points. As I always say, I'm just happy with the win today. I'm going to celebrate after this. I can't wait to get home. On a good roll so I'm going to try to win Malaysia next."
On the other hand, Hamilton said he was happy to finish on the podium despite having a tough weekend in Singapore. He had to retire from a practise race on Friday due to mechanical problems and revealed he faced issues with his brakes during the race. However, the 31-year-old said he is confident about getting back to his best in Malaysia.
"Very tough day today, as always it is here in Singapore. This weekend has just been a tricky one for me, but I'm still glad I could get back up on the podium and get some points for the team," Hamilton said.
"We have come from 43 points down so theoretically eight points isn't anywhere near as steep as that but still, Nico's been performing fantastically well. This weekend he's done an amazing job. I expect him to continue like that so I've got make sure that I do the same."
