<
>

Bernie Ecclestone asks magician Dynamo to make Mercedes disappear

Dan Istitene/Getty Images

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone asked British magician Dynamo to make Mercedes disappear after watching Nico Rosberg's dominant pole position in Singapore.

Much of the focus ahead of the weekend was whether Mercedes would suffer a repeat of last year's problems that saw it 1.5s off pole position and off the podium. A sublime lap from Nico Rosberg saw him claim pole position by over half a second, however, though a fine late effort from Daniel Ricciardo in Q3 prevented a Mercedes front row lockout.

Speaking in a Sky Sports segment set to be aired in full tomorrow, Ecclestone was being interviewed alongside Dynamo, famous for his role in British TV series Magician Impossible. After joking about whether or not the trickster would even need a pass to get on the grid on Sunday evening, Ecclestone suggested the 33-year-old perform a different kind of trick ahead of the race.

"I want to see how good he is and see if he can make the Mercedes disappear," Ecclestone said with a wry smile.

Mercedes has won all but one race and claimed all but one pole position this year and has been utterly dominant since the introduction of V6 turbo engines in 2014. Earlier this year Ecclestone claimed Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton's first-lap collision at the Spanish Grand Prix would have made the team more popular with F1 fans than any of its wins in recent years.