Lewis Hamilton backtracks on Mercedes comments after ‘speaking out in frustration’

Lewis Hamilton has discussed his post-Singapore Grand Prix criticism of Mercedes’ strategy.

Lewis Hamilton has backtracked after criticising Mercedes’ strategy during the Singapore Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion insists he was speaking out in ‘frustration’ and had agreed with the recommendation to start the race on soft tyres.

In the event with a sponsor this week, Hamilton said he was ‘so angry’ and ‘perplexed’ that he had to be told to start with the soft tyres in Singapore. Both of the drivers who used the starting strategy were on the starting grid, with VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo the only other driver to do so.

Mercedes put George Russell on medium tyres, though all other competitors also used the same compound. Hamilton was puzzled that he and his team-mate were given different approach in races while they both qualified in similar positions.

But the 39-year-old has now backtracked on his comments, admitting that he made them with fury after the race in which he came sixth, two positions behind Russell.

He wrote on Instagram: “Hey all, [I am] heading into the weekend focused on training for the next race. I know there has been a lot of chat around the last one and our strategy in Singapore which just didn’t work. When that happens it’s natural to be frustrated and easy for me to speak out in that frustration.

We were aware that starting on soft tyres was a very risky strategy but at the same time it can make our position stronger at the start and I agreed with that. It was a problem that we didn’t sufficiently anticipate what others might do.”

Hamilton and Russell were answering questions from an audience at Petronas event in Kuala Lumpur. Asked about his strategy in Singapore, the soon-to-be Ferrari star responded: Baffled was the feeling that I got I have never really been in that type of situation.. If George has qualified well and I am out of the top 10 then we’ll share the strategies. But when we were so close, it just did not seem very logical to me.

That is why I did my best to fend off the attempt to switch to the medium tyre but the team passed on the information suggesting that I needed to start on the soft. Anytime they removed the blankets everyone was on mediums.

Hamilton added: “I was so angry. Even from that, I’m already frustrated. I invested some efforts in an endeavour to follow the guys in front but they were very energetic. I tried to milk that tyre for as long as I could, which was not very long in reality.

I had to pit on lap 17 and immediately I realised that, that meant the end of the race for me. I knew the hard tyre was going to be a discomfort in that heat.”

Hamilton was finally switched to the hard tyres on lap 17, but could not close up with the pack ahead of the race.