Hamilton weighed down by Mercedes’ mistake in Singapore
Qualified 3rd, Lewis Hamilton could hope for a podium this Sunday during the Singapore Grand Prix. But the Briton suffered from a strategy mistake on the part of Mercedes, finishing 6th.
Mercedes’s strategic mistake cost Lewis Hamilton dearly on Sunday at the Singapore Grand Prix. With the third-best time in qualifying behind Norris and Verstappen, the Briton was in search of his first podium since his victory at Spa last July. His engineers chose to start him on soft tires for the Singapore race. What Hamilton regrets:
« I fought […] to start with medium tires. But the team kept suggesting that I start with softs. And then the others [drivers] took off the tire blankets and everyone was on mediums. From that moment on I was frustrated. »
Toto Wolff admitted it after the race, his team misread the race. The same goes for the technical director of the Silver Arrows, James Allison: It’s a clear mistake. If we could go back, we would do like those around us and choose the mediums. Moreover, the further the race progressed, the more this initial choice handicapped Hamilton.
No advantage at the start
Hamilton, unable to go back, had to make a good start to take advantage of his soft tires. Being the only one to have this tire (with Ricciardo starting 16th, editor’s note), the Briton had to try to gain positions right from the start. The soft tire often allows for a quick getaway and offers a good chance to gain one or two places in the first laps of the race, explains James Allison.
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At the start, Lewis Hamilton did try to take the outside line on Max Verstappen at turn 1. But the Red Bull kept the advantage and quickly pulled away. With over a second of delay at the end of the first lap, Hamilton knew that his race was only going to get worse.
Quickly outdistanced
Mercedes did not expect the race to start so quickly. Norris – who is having his best start in his career from pole position – and Verstappen, right behind him, quickly opened up significant gaps, not allowing Hamilton to ideally warm up his soft tires.
The German team was surprised. We made a decision based on the last races in Singapore, where it was essentially procession races, like in Monaco, regrets Toto Wolff. Forced to keep up the pace to prevent his pursuers from passing him, Hamilton had to push himself, damaging his tire one lap after another.
Untranslatable
Lewis Hamilton did not therefore make the most of his tires in the first few laps. Suffering significant degradation at the rear, he was unable to extend his stint. “With the degradation of the rear tire that we had, there was only one way to do it, and it was in reverse,” added Toto Wolff.
The British driver switched to hard tires as early as the 17th lap (out of 62). That’s 10 laps before George Russell and almost 20 before Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc. However, the hard rubber immediately proved to be ineffective on the Marina Bay circuit. There were still 45 laps to go and Hamilton’s fate seemed to be sealed.
« You guys are killing me with that strategy, Hamilton’s radio message is clear. And the 39-year-old driver wasn’t mistaken. Car number 44 saw his teammate overtaking him while Piastri and then Leclerc took advantage of better tires to overtake the Briton in the second part of the race. The eight points from his sixth-place finish will not satisfy him.
A 2024 edition different from the others no safety car
If the Mercedes was less performing overall than its competitors, a racing incident could have reshuffled the cards at the front. For the first time in fifteen races in the city-state, the safety car did not intervene. The unprecedented nature of this edition of the Singapore GP did not help the future Ferrari driver, mired in his clan’s strategic error.
This year continues to be tough for everyone, but we are all doing our best. We don’t always manage to do things correctly, and that’s what happened today with our strategy », said Hamilton, exhausted by the challenging conditions in Singapore.
As highlighted by James Allison, there is nothing that could have helped Lewis’s weekend. Mercedes will have to find solutions before Austin to hope to see Hamilton on the podium during this end of the season. So that King Lewis finishes his Mercedes adventure on a good note.
