Lewis Hamilton took responsibility for a strategic misstep that saw him qualify sixth for the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint Race, trailing Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in third.
Hamilton showed promising pace during the first two segments on medium tires. However, the seven-time world champion chose to run early in SQ3 rather than waiting for optimal track evolution at the end of the session.
That strategic gamble failed to pay off when the car switched to the soft compound.
“It was looking good in Q1 and Q2, and then I don’t really know where it went away,” Hamilton said. “We did a slightly different run plan to the others. It was my choice, and I think I got that wrong.”
Beyond the timing choice, Hamilton struggled with severe rear stability issues throughout his final flying lap on the Soft rubber.
“But ultimately, just the car was very oversteery on that lap,” he explained. “I don’t know if the rears were not ready, or if they’re overheating.”
“It was difficult to say, but it was very, very snappy, oversteery, and it just wasn’t a good lap overall.”
“On the Mediums, it was good. Just much different on the Softs. Lots of grip, but only on the front and none at the rear.”
“It could be balance, but ultimately, I had the pace in the first two sessions. And then all of a sudden, I didn’t have the grip on the rear for some reason on that last lap.”
While Hamilton’s honesty about his tactical blunder is refreshing, blaming strategy masks the deeper concern that he remains unable to coax predictable single-lap balance out of the Ferrari when the soft tyres bite.
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