Nico Rosberg admits Singapore struggles

Singapore: Championship leader Nico Rosberg admitted he has ground to make up on his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton after losing momentum in Friday`s opening practice sessions for Sunday`s Singapore Grand Prix.

The 29-year-old German, who wound up 13th fatest in the second free practice session, had his fast lap on soft tyres wrecked by a spectacular accident involving Pastor Maldonado in his Lotus.

The Venezuelan was unhurt, but will require a new chassis to take part on Saturday.

"It was a bit of a pity, yes, because I didn`t learn quite as much as I would like to today," said a disappointed Rosberg, who leads Hamilton by 22 points in the title race with six rounds remaining.

"His crash really interrupted my quick lap and I was only able to push for the first half of the lap. OK I still learned something in that part so I know what the car was doing, so I know what to do for tomorrow.

"I wasn`t happy with the car so it`s definitely still work in progress, but a pity that I wasn`t able to finish the lap.

"We just decided because there was not that much time left and we wanted to do many, many laps on high fuel to see how it would go for the race so we just decided to go for that."

Ferrari and Red Bull performed well on Friday, when Hamilton was fastest, but Rosberg said he is still confident Mercedes will prove to have pace in hand.

"We`ve seen in the last couple of races that on Friday they are always a bit closer so I`m hoping that it`s going to be the case this weekend," he said.

"As the weekend goes on we`ll just edge away a bit. The car is feeling good anyway so I`m hoping that it will still be very quick."