LONDON: After criticizing the Mercedes team’s tactics at the Singapore Grand Prix on September 22, when he finished sixth, seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton declared that everything was OK between them.
Despite qualifying in third place, Hamilton was not happy with his team’s decision to start him on soft tires when he preferred to utilize mediums.
Hamilton subsequently claimed at an event, “I battled as hard as I could to go on the medium tyre, but the team continued to suggest that I started on the soft… everyone was on medium.”
Technical director James Allison of the team accepted the error, claiming it cost Hamilton—who is now sixth in the championship with 174 points, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who leads with 331—the race.
On September 28, nevertheless, Hamilton resorted to social media to claim that the soft tire strategy was a daring and dangerous one that may have given him an early edge in the race but did not work.
“I am aware that there has been a lot of discussion about the last one and our unsuccessful strategy in Singapore. It’s normal for me to feel irritated when something occurs, and it’s simple for me to express that irritation,” the British person stated on Instagram.
Without a doubt, though, the team gets along well; we don’t mind having difficult talks or facing difficult situations, which is how we have accomplished so much as a group. We’ll stick with one another through thick and thin.
Hamilton, 39, stated that the upcoming race in Austin, Texas, in October, was his main priority. By then, Mercedes had committed to a “substantial” automobile update.
“We will be trying to figure out how to mitigate what ailed us this weekend, how to figure out how to make the tyres run better on these overheating circuits,” Allison stated during this past week’s post-Singapore GP debrief. In addition, we’ll be working hard to complete our final improvement of the season.
Ralf Schumacher, a former driver, cautioned that Verstappen is serious about perhaps leaving Formula One due to a verbal altercation. If the sport’s regulating body prevented the Dutchman from having fun and being himself, he had previously hinted that he could give up on the activity sooner than anticipated.
After using a profanity during a press conference prior to the Singapore Grand Prix, Red Bull’s three-time world champion was told by stewards to engage in “community work of public interest” with the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
The Dutch driver staged a one-man protest after the penalty, which he called “super silly,” by either giving reporters brief replies or saying “no comment” during the formal FIA post-qualifying press conference on September 21.
“I trust Max to stop if this escalates because he is simply independent,” Schumacher said to Sky Deutschland. He is financially secure. He has frequently expressed his realization that his time in Formula One would come to an end. I thus wouldn’t rule that out. Reuters