‘On me’ – Unwell Lewis Hamilton holds hands up after Singapore GP backfire

SINGAPORE – Lewis Hamilton accepted full responsibility after his strategy call at the Singapore Grand Prix backfired.

Hamilton, who felt unwell after the race and was granted FIA permission to skip the usual media activities, later released a statement and admitted that it was “on me” after a P6 result which failed to do the pace of his Ferrari justice.

Lewis Hamilton holds hands up after Singapore GP call

While polesitter Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate, started the race on soft tyres, Hamilton went for mediums.

Yet, Hamilton was the first of that leading trio to pit and swap to softs, the compound which was experiencing lower tyre degradation than anticipated.

It looked like the seven-time world champion was heading for a two-stop strategy, but after missing the pit entry under Virtual Safety Car conditions, Hamilton stayed out until the end of the race.

It proved an agonising run to the line, Hamilton caught and passed by Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. He finished P6.

One of, if not the most physical race on the F1 calendar, it emerged after the race that Hamilton was feeling unwell. The FIA therefore granted him permission to miss his media duties.

Hamilton would, via Ferrari, give his reaction to the race, taking “full responsibility” for the strategy which he pushed for and how it played out.

This marked the second instance of Hamilton holding his hands up for a strategy error at the Singapore Grand Prix. He had taken accountability for a Sprint qualifying decision which left him P6 on the grid.

Following the Grand Prix at Marina Bay, Hamilton said: “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.”

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Leclerc ensured Ferrari’s presence on the Singapore podium with a P2 result.

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