Lewis Hamilton is dissatisfied with the approach Mercedes adopted for him in the Singapore Grand Prix. He began on the softs at position three, a choice he attempted to persuade his team to reconsider.
The majority of Formula One drivers began on mediums at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Hamilton was the only driver at the head of the field who used a different strategy. “We sat in our meeting the morning of the race, actually the night before, and they already mentioned that they would like to split the cars,” Hamilton revealed at an event organised by Mercedes’ key sponsor Petronas.
Why Hamilton was angry by Mercedes’ choice
The 39-year-old Briton doesn’t understand why the strategies were separated, given that both Mercedes drivers qualified on the second row of the grid. “I was bewildered by that. Because in the past, when we’ve been in that situation, if George has qualified well, as he usually does, and I’m outside of the top ten or so, we’ve divided the strategies, but we were so close. “It didn’t make sense to me,” he added.
“I fought as hard as I could to get on the medium tyre, but the team insisted that I start on the soft. “And then when they removed the tyre blankets, everyone was on mediums,” Hamilton explained. George Russell, a teammate, remarked, “When I saw that, I was thinking, ‘Lewis won’t be happy'”
“I was so angry,” Hamilton continued. “So, I’ve been frustrated since that time. And then I tried my best to stay up with the guys ahead,” referring to Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who were soon outperforming the Mercedes driver. “And then I trust tried to make that tyre last as long as could and I had to stop on Lap 17 and I knew from that moment, then the race was done for me, because the hard tyre was going to be a struggle in that heat.”
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