Hamilton bemoans Mercedes decision in ‘testing’ Singapore GP

Lewis Hamilton has said he experienced a “range of emotions” during the Singapore Grand Prix, after Mercedes’ alternate strategy call failed to pan out.

After the 62-lap race, the British driver underlined the “right intentions” his team displayed, which did not “work out” on this occasion.

The 39-year-old was left out to dry at the Marina Bay Street Circuit when the Brackley squad opted for an aggressive and opportunistic tyre strategy for the seven-time F1 drivers’ champion.

Starting the race on used soft tyres, Mercedes had hoped Hamilton could move up from third on the grid at the start and claim track position on Max Verstappen, or even pole-sitter Lando Norris.

The off-set approach may have worked anyway in the event of an early safety car intervention, which would have likely played into the hands of the 105-time grand prix winner.

Neither came to pass, and Hamilton was forced into stopping for fresh rubber considerably sooner than the cars he was racing, which left him on older tyres at the end.

The strategy call saw him slip back in the closing stages, ultimately coming home in sixth place, behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started in ninth.

Hamilton, like team-mate George Russell, missed his post-race media commitments. However a statement on his grand prix was later released by Mercedes.

“It is hard to describe the range of emotions you feel when we have a difficult race like that,” he said.

“This year continues to be a testing one for everyone, but we are all pushing as hard as we can. We don’t always get things right and that was the case today with our strategy.

“We all head into the weekend, and every decision we take, with the right intentions and sometimes it doesn’t work out. It can be frustrating, but we are all in this together.”

‘Energy, drive and determination’

After Mercedes looked a resurgent force in the run-up to the mandated summer shutdown, winning three of four races before the break, the team has struggled to re-capture that form in the second part of the season.

Whilst both Hamilton and Russell have finished each of the past four races, the pair have only secured three top five results between them, and only one podium, which the latter inherited after Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez’s penultimate-lap crash in Baku.

“We have lost some form to the leaders in the past few races and we’re working hard to figure out why that is,” Hamilton added.

“We will do what we do best though and that is to come together as a team, analyse and refocus ahead of Austin.

“We will head there with energy, drive, and determination. It’s another opportunity to show what we can do when we get things right and to hopefully take a step forward with the car.