In a heated internal battle, Lewis Hamilton fought Mercedes F1’s decision to start him on soft tyres, standing alone among top contenders.
In Singapore, Lewis Hamilton started the race on soft tires, uniquely among the front runners. The Mercedes F1 driver disclosed that he had internally contested the decision, preferring to start on medium compound tires.
“It wasn’t fun,” Hamilton remarked. “We convened the morning before the race, and the night before, they had already mentioned wanting to split the strategies between the cars.
“I was somewhat puzzled because, in the past, when we were in such positions, if George had qualified well, as he usually does, and I wasn’t in the top 10 or something, we’d split strategies.”
“But when we were so close, it made no sense to me, and I fought as hard as possible to switch to the medium tire, but the team kept suggesting I start on the soft. When they removed the tire covers, everyone else was on mediums.”
The British driver was not pleased to find this out and felt all hope was lost: “I was so angry. From that moment, I was frustrated. I did my best to keep up with the guys in front of me, but they were just too fast.”
“Then, I just tried to make that tire last as long as possible. I had to stop on the 17th lap, and I knew then that the race was over for me because the hard tire was going to be tough to manage in that heat.”
“We struggled with the car’s balance all weekend. We changed so many different things. We had a very good qualifying, but unfortunately, the race was just too challenging for us.”
Wolff also acknowledges a Mercedes error.
Toto Wolff himself admitted that Mercedes F1 made a mistake, even though the team was convinced it would be more advantageous, considering past editions of the Singapore Grand Prix.
“We made a decision based on historical races in Singapore, which are essentially a procession, similar to Monaco, and we thought the soft tire would give him an opportunity at the start. That was about the only chance for overtaking.”
“It was a bad decision that we all made together. It seemed like a good offset, but with the rear tire degradation we had, there was only one way it could go, and that was backwards. So there was logic behind the decision, but it was obviously contrary to what we should have decided.”
“And it does not disguise the fact that the car is too slow. It was a very bad race for us. It’s not about looking at the positions, fourth and sixth, that’s not good, especially when you start third and fourth.”
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Hamilton Clashes Over Tyres at Singapore GP Hamilton Clashes Over Tyres at Singapore GP
