Lewis Hamilton has revealed that Mercedes ignored his desperate plea to avoid starting the race on the Soft tyre at the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix last weekend.
Hamilton lined up third on the grid at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, but he sustained a disappointing run as he dropped back three places to trail home a distant sixth.
The Briton’s prospects were blighted when the choice to fit the red-walled compound consigned him to being exposed in the closing stages on degrading Hard rubber.
The earlier stop put Hamilton behind slower cars which George Russell capitalised on to overcut his team-mate, while Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc breezed past.
Hamilton has divulged that he argued against the pre-race discussion to split strategies between the two Mercedes cars, but the team opted to overrule his concerns.
“We sat in our meeting in the morning of the race – actually the night before they already mentioned that they would like to split the cars – and for me, I was a bit perplexed by it,” Hamilton said at an event in Kuala Lumpur with Mercedes sponsor Petronas.
“In the past when we’ve been in that position, normally, if George has qualified well like he normally does that and I’m out of the top 10 or something then we will split the strategies.
“But when we were so close, it didn’t make sense to me.
“So I battled as hard as I could to fight to go on the Medium tyre, but the team continued to suggest that I start on the Soft.
“And then they took the tyre blankets off and everyone was on Mediums.”
Hamilton was poised to endure tough Singapore GP
Hamilton recalled that he acknowledged that he was braced to endure a tough race the moment that he was told he was the sole driver in the top 10 not on Mediums.
“Already from that moment I’m frustrated,” he continued.
“Then I tried my best to keep up with the guys ahead, they were too fast. And then I just tried to make that tyre last as long as I could.
“I had to [pit] on Lap 17. I knew from that moment that the race was done for me because the Hard tyre was going to be a struggle in that heat.
“We’ve been struggling with the balance of the car all weekend, so we’ve been changing so many different things.
“We got a good qualifying, but unfortunately the race was a bit too much of a struggle for us.”
Russell, who also relinquished a place to Piastri’s McLaren to end up fourth, has conceded that he was aware Hamilton would be disgruntled with Mercedes’ decision.
“When I saw that, I was thinking, ‘Lewis won’t be happy’,” the Briton admitted.
