Lewis Hamilton has taken full personal responsibility for a strategy miscalculation at the Singapore Grand Prix that dropped him from a podium contention to sixth place, calling the outcome a “painful lesson.”
Hamilton started the race from third on the grid on medium tyres and was the first driver to pit, switching to the soft compound. When a Virtual Safety Car was deployed later in the race, Ferrari called him in for a second stop — a call teammate Charles Leclerc and others acted on. Hamilton missed the pit entry and elected to stay out, betting on a one-stop strategy to the finish.
The gamble failed. In the closing laps, tyre degradation cost Hamilton three positions, leaving him sixth at the chequered flag. He immediately acknowledged the error over team radio: “Sorry boys. I let you down today with that strategy. My call, and I lost us valuable points. I’ll try and make up for it in the next one.”
Ferrari confirmed Hamilton felt unwell after the race and was seen by the FIA medical team, receiving permission to skip the media pen. The seven-time World Champion instead issued a written statement.
“Today wasn’t the result we were looking for and it was on me,” Hamilton said. “At a track that’s difficult to overtake, you need to try something different and I chose to start on a new medium tyre, to go long and try to make a one-stop work. Unfortunately the medium didn’t perform as well as the soft.”
Hamilton acknowledged the pace was there in his second stint but said he could not make the progress needed through the field. “Under the VSC, the team called me in but I missed the entry. After that, I decided to stay out and try to hold track position to the end but in the closing laps, I was struggling massively with tyre degradation and lost three places, finishing P6, which doesn’t reflect the pace we had in the car today.”
The Briton was direct in his apology to the Ferrari squad. “A painful lesson today, but I take full responsibility for the decisions I made. Not every call will work out, and I can accept getting it wrong but I’m sorry for the team for the points we lost today. They put so much into every weekend, and I wanted to deliver more for them. I’ll continue to put the work in and come back fighting at the next race.”