Lewis Hamilton has acknowledged that the various tactics used against him and Mercedes teammate George Russell at the Singapore Grand Prix left him feeling “so angry” and “perplexed.” The seven-time world champion insisted that he should have started on medium tires, but he was instructed to start on soft tires.
Only Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo began on the softs; RB chose to start Daniel Ricciardo on the outside as well. However, the Mercedes driver had a difficult race and had to make an early pit stop on lap 17.After switching to tougher tires, the 39-year-old still had problems. Russell placed fourth, and he came in sixth.Hamilton remarked, “I was perplexed by it, I’ve never really been in that position,” during a Petronas event in Kuala Lumpur.
We’ll divide the tactics if George has qualified well and I don’t make it into the top 10. But it didn’t make sense to me when we were so close.”I thus tried my hardest to start on the medium tire, but the team insisted that I start on the soft. Upon removing the covers, all of them were wearing mediums.
Russell chimed in, saying, “I knew Lewis wouldn’t be happy when I saw that.”Hamilton went on to express his rage, saying, “I was so angry.” I’m irritated already because of it. The folks ahead were moving too quickly for me to keep up with, despite my best efforts. I made every effort to extend the life of that tire”.
I realized that the race was over for me when I had to stop on lap 17. I anticipated that the hard tire would be difficult.Hamilton, who will leave Mercedes at the end of the current campaign to join Ferrari, has once again found it difficult to put up consistent results at Mercedes.