Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were both in agreement - for once this season - that the destiny of the Formula One world championship should not be decided on the grounds of reliability.
Mercedes were left to reflect on a day of mixed fortunes at the Singapore Grand Prix, with Hamilton securing his 29th F1 win and seventh of the season, while Rosberg retired after 14 laps due to a wiring loom failure in the steering column. That means Hamilton leads the drivers' standings by three points with five races remaining this season.
However, the concern for both men is that after two technical retirements apiece, and other mechanical gremlins during the campaign, the champion will not be decided by actual racing.
"Every time it [a technical fault] is something new," said Hamilton. "On Nico's car it was something small we've never had it before, so we have to keep working hard as a team and move forwards.
"Absolutely, I want it to be decided on the track. With Nico not there it did take the weight off, but I was still really wanting to have that close battle. Personally, I enjoy the intensity."
Rosberg would enjoy more that any problems from now on to an absolute minimum. "Reliability is a factor in the title, of course," he said. "From a team perspective unreliability is our weakness and we need to get to the bottom of it, to keep pushing and try to improve on that. That's the key thing for us."
Rosberg's woes started ahead of the formation lap, and despite frantic attempts to resolve the issue in the steering column, the 29-year-old was forced to start from the pit lane. He would watch the denouement of the race from the pit wall, with Hamilton taking the flag from Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel as the reigning four-time champion secured his best result of the year. "I just feel relaxed. I came here to do a job, and I came through it without any issues on our side of the garage all weekend, which was a real blessing," Hamilton added.
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