Australian Daniel Ricciardo has spoken of the awkward pre-podium silences between Mercedes team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, while tipping the latter for the season’s Formula One title.

The smiling Red Bull driver finished second in Singapore last weekend, with Rosberg winning and triple champion Hamilton third.

The result sent Rosberg back on top in the championship, the German now eight points clear of Hamilton with six rounds remaining.

“When Lewis made up that deficit to Nico and came back it was like OK, nobody’s going to touch Lewis,” he told reporters during a trip to Australia ahead of next week’s Malaysian race.

“Nico’s come back... I’m going to throw a spanner in the works and say Rosberg,” he added when asked to pick one of the pair for the title.

Rosberg has won eight races to Hamilton’s six this year, including the three since the August break just when it looked like the Briton had the momentum.

“The best part is if you get on the podium with them two, in the room before we go out on the podium just after the race, you take the helmet off and it’s awkward for me because it’s just so silent,” said Ricciardo.

“I don’t like silence too much, so I’m like trying to either talk to myself or make conversation with them but they are just happy enjoying the awkward silence. It’s quite fun.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.