Lewis Hamilton has explained the reasons why he overrode Ferrari’s call to pit in the Singapore Grand Prix, a mistake he says he “owned up to” and will work not to repeat – but which would not prevent him from continuing “challenging the norms”.
Hamilton dropped out of the podium positions to sixth on worn tyres in the closing stages of the last race at Marina Bay after what proved the costly decision not to pit under the Virtual Safety Car, as the Ferrari pit wall had requested.
Feeling unwell after the gruelling night race, and being excused from his post-race media obligations by the FIA, Hamilton’s only comments about his race came via a statement issued by the team and then a post on his Instagram, in which he said he took responsibility for the strategy going wrong.
He spoke in person about what had happened for the first time in Thursday’s press conference in Austin ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
In a detailed answer, Hamilton initially explained why he first chose to start the race on different tyres, the mediums, to team-mate Charles Leclerc who was one place ahead of him on the grid behind Red Bull’s polesitting Max Verstappen, the eventual race winner.
“Well, firstly, you learn from these experiences,” said Hamilton.
“It’s rare that I find myself in that position. Of course, the next couple of days didn’t feel so great but you live and you learn.
“I think when I was lining up on grid, when I knew I was going to be third, I’m always looking at ways to win. I’m always looking at doing potentially something different.
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“And I wanted to be on a different strategy, not just the same strategy as Charles, where we just follow each other. We assumed Max would be potentially quicker and the strategy kind of showed just us finishing second and third and that’s not enough for me.
“I wanted to have options and see what could be possible. If the medium tyre could last longer, maybe you could go deeper into the race, but it wasn’t the case when I got going and it didn’t feel great in the first stint.
“Then obviously coming out behind Charles and losing a lot of time, ultimately, with him on the slower tyre, which I was on at the beginning I had the pace on the soft was a bit of a similar scenario to maybe to Zandvoort.”
On the decision to not heed Ferrari’s call to pit under the Virtual Safety Car and continue on to take over what stood as second place, Hamilton said: “I was coming towards the pit lane entry, and I didn’t know Charles was coming in, because I think just recently he had stopped and in a split-second decision I decided to stay out.
“And as soon as I was alongside the pit lane, I realised it’s probably the wrong decision, but I owned up to it, took responsibility for it and you move on.”
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‘I will not shy away from that’ – Hamilton to keep ‘challenging the norms’
Hamilton said there had been productive discussions in the team since Singapore and that he believed it was important that he continued to “continuously challenge the team, and myself” in the search for better results.
“We’ve had good conversations in the background of how we can do better together, how we can collaborate better, but I think that nothing’s changed in terms of how well we work together in the background,” he added.
“I truly believe my job is rather than to follow suit always, it’s to continuously challenge the team, and myself including, and just constantly challenging the norms. And that’s ultimately how I’ve got to where I am and I will not shy away from that.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go well and that was one of those but you live to fight another day, you win or lose as a team. So we carry the weight and the costs together.
“It definitely hurts when I lose points for the team, it’s not something I do very often, but I’ll work, I’ll double the efforts to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Sky Sports F1’s live United States GP schedule
Thursday October 22
6.25pm: F1 Academy Practice
8pm: Drivers’ Press Conference
10.30pm: F1 Academy Qualifying
11.10pm: Paddock Uncut
Friday October 23
6pm: United States Grand Prix Practice One (session starts at 6.30pm)*
8pm: The F1 Show
9.45pm: United States Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 10pm)*
11.50pm: F1 Academy Race 1*
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Saturday October 24
6.15pm: United States Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)
8.30pm: United States Grand Prix Qualifying build-up*
10pm: UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*
12am: F1 Academy Race 2*
12.45am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday October 25
5pm: F1 Academy Race 3
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 heads to The Americas for another triple-header with the United States Grand Prix in Austin up first this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime