That podium finish simply vanished. Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur admitted that a split-second strategy call cost Lewis Hamilton a guaranteed podium result at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Things had looked promising early on. Hamilton led Charles Leclerc in a 2-3 finish in the Singapore Sprint before they swapped places in Qualifying, setting up an ideal scenario for Ferrari to split their strategies and chase down Max Verstappen. While Leclerc enjoyed a strong opening stint on soft tyres, Hamilton struggled for pace on mediums and pitted 19 laps in, working his way back into the top three as the race unfolded. Leclerc maintained enough of a margin to pit and stay ahead, a situation the 41-year-old was not best pleased about when instructed to back off and manage degradation.
Then came the turning point. When a Virtual Safety Car presented the chance to pit again, Hamilton rejected Ferrari's offer of a double stack and chose to stay out on aging tyres while his teammate came in. That left him completely vulnerable. His pace fell away over the final laps, and Kimi Antonelli alongside the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri powered past, dropping him all the way to P6 at the chequered flag.
“The call was to pit [two drivers at the VSC] and Lewis decided to stay on track,” Vasseur confirmed to F1 TV after the race. “I think it was a mistake overall – we would’ve gone for P2 and P3 today. He apologised on the in-lap for the strategy. We asked him to call and he didn’t.”
Over the radio on his in-lap, Hamilton owned the error directly: “Sorry boys, I let you down with that strategy,” he told the team, missing out on what would have been his seventh Grand Prix podium of the season.
Expanding on the incident to Sky Sports F1, Vasseur added: “We kept the door open for the two options depending on a VSC and so on – that was the case. We called them both to pit – it would have been P2 and P3 because we were P2 and P3 on track. He missed the pit entry. Honestly, it’s a bit of a shame because he lost a podium too. He was crystal clear on the radio. Now let’s be focused on Austin. The performance this weekend was okay. We have to be focused on the future.”
