Lewis Hamilton Takes “Full Responsibility” for Strategy Mistake in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton admitted he learned a “painful lesson” after overriding his team’s pit strategy at the Singapore Grand Prix, which dropped him from podium contention down to sixth place in the closing laps.

After starting from third on medium-compound tyres, the seven-time world champion struggled with early pace before stopping early to switch to softs. When a Virtual Safety Car was deployed on lap 39, Ferrari instructed both Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc to pit for fresh rubber. While Leclerc came in, Hamilton missed the pit entry and chose to stay out on track to preserve his position and attempt a one-stop strategy.

The decision backfired as his aging tyres degraded rapidly over the final laps, allowing Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to sweep past.

Immediately after crossing the finish line, Hamilton voiced his regret over the 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."

Hamilton was excused from his post-race media obligations by the FIA medical team after feeling unwell in the humid Singapore heat. However, Ferrari issued a statement on his behalf in which the British driver owned up to the error:

"Today wasn’t the result we were looking for and it was on me. 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."

"I had a good second stint and the pace was back, but I couldn’t make the progress I needed. 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."

"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."

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur confirmed that instructions from the pit wall were unequivocal, but he downplayed any internal friction:

"Clearly we asked them to pit. Charles pitted. Lewis didn't want to pit because he... I don't know why. And then he realised it was the wrong call. It's why he apologised to the team. Now it's not a drama for me that he made the wrong call. I'm making mistakes, he's making mistakes, we're all making mistakes sometimes. Now we have to look ahead and make mistakes positively."

Vasseur also addressed early-race tactics, noting that Ferrari split strategies across both cars because Saturday's wet sprint race left teams without clear dry-weather data:

"We called him, we called them both to pit. It would have been P2-P3 because we were P2-P3 on track, and he missed the pit entry, and honestly it's a bit of a shame because he's losing a podium also."

"It was crystal clear on the radio. But now let's be focused on Austin. The performance this weekend was ok. We have to be focused on the future."

Antonelli's third-place finish extended his Drivers' Championship lead over Mercedes team-mate George Russell to 102 points, and 111 points over Hamilton. The 20-year-old Italian stands on the brink of becoming the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history if he extends his advantage to 125 points following the race in Austin on October 25.

Reflecting on his potential title opportunity, Antonelli commented:

"For sure, but at the same time, I know it's very close, I know it's there, but I just need to make sure that I keep doing the best I can. The mindset is always the same, to go out there and win and perform the best way I can."

"This weekend I haven't particularly driven that well. I felt like I could have done a better job, but I feel confident that a week to reset and I'm really looking forward to being back in Austin."

"But at the end of the day, if I don't do my job well, then the result won't come. So in order to achieve what I want, I need to perform, as simple as that."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff emphasized caution regarding title calculations:

"I haven't looked at it from that perspective, because the moment I have the thought of 'how many points is it actually, and when could he win it,' I remind myself that this is motor racing and crazy things have happened."

"The aim must be to score points, not to lose too many on the others, like today, gaining on Lewis, which was unexpected, and then it's going to come towards him, whether that's in Mexico or Brazil [immediately after Austin] or further down the line."

Russell, who finished ninth after starting from the back of the grid due to power unit penalties, looked ahead to the remainder of the season:

"The goal is to improve the car. We were dominant for so long and since the break we have seen Red Bull be exceptionally fast on many different types of circuits and we need to go back to winning ways."