Before the Singapore GP, Lewis Hamilton had a good opportunity to fight for a podium position after qualifying P3 for the race. However, the 7-time Champion was unable to maintain his position during the race. By the end of the race, Hamilton only managed to bring the car in at P6. This was extremely disappointing for the Brit considering where he started.
During the race, Hamilton lost positions to Oscar Piastri who started P5, Charles Leclerc who started P9, and his own teammate, George Russell who started right behind Hamilton at P4. After the race, Hamilton attended an event for Mercedes’ sponsors, Petronas where he stated his frustration towards the team for the flaw in the strategy.
Lewis Hamilton furious at Mercedes for mixing strategies
The day after the race, Lewis Hamilton attended an event hosted by Mercedes’ sponsors, Petronas. There, he spoke about how the strategy screwed up his entire race.
“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,” Hamilton stated.
“And for me, I was a bit perplexed by it. Because in the past, when we’ve ever been in that position. So I battled as hard as I could to fight to go on the medium tyre, but the team continued to suggest that I started on the soft.”
“And then when they took the tyre blankets off, everyone was on mediums. I was so angry, so already from that moment I’m frustrated,” Hamilton added, regarding his strategy.”
Feels like home 💚
Continuing our 50 years of PETRONAS celebrations with a trip to the PETRONAS Towers in KL 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/RQ736hx4ud
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 24, 2024
When the race began, all of the drivers in the top 10 started with medium tyres on. However, Mercedes decided to give Lewis a soft tyre to start the race with. They were hoping that these soft tyres would help him get the jump on Max Verstappen and maybe even Lando Norris for track position. However, this did not go as planned.
As the race started, Hamilton was not able to gain any places off the start and had to pit much earlier than the rest of the drivers since the soft tyres wear out quickly. This strategy compromised his entire race.
Mercedes usually never splits strategy unless the 2 cars are starting far apart from each other. But in this case, Russell and Hamilton started alongside and still they decided to split the strategy.
Do you think Lewis Hamilton could have achieved a podium finish if he had started on the medium compound? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
