Lewis Hamilton delivered a stunning wet-weather masterclass to secure P2 in the Singapore Sprint, rocketing from P6 to P3 on the opening lap alone before inheriting second place following George Russell's early retirement.
After hitting a wall of frustration with his lack of pace on soft tyres during Sprint Qualifying, the Ferrari driver made the damp track look entirely his own. A brilliant launch off the line saw him slice past both McLarens and his team mate Charles Leclerc in one fell swoop. When George Russell crashed out of the race, Hamilton gratefully moved up another spot. He then managed the gap to finish 2.5s behind Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
“I had a mega start which is awesome,” Hamilton said. “I love driving this track in the rain and those conditions, so as soon as the heavens opened I was like, ‘This is a great day’.”
He stalked Verstappen early on, bringing the gap down before wisely deciding against risky moves on a single-file damp track where overtaking is notoriously brutal. After nursing his tyres through an overheating phase on the right side, he found his rhythm again and pushed towards the finish.
The strong result injected a dose of optimism into the Ferrari garage ahead of Qualifying, with Hamilton eyeing a fifth victory at the Marina Bay Circuit to draw level with Sebastian Vettel’s record. “I think we showed that we obviously have a good car,” he noted, confident that a cleaner Qualifying session will let them put real pressure on both Mercedes and Red Bull.
Meanwhile, team mate Charles Leclerc had a far more stressful afternoon en route to P3. Battling severe intermediate tyre degradation, Leclerc snapped at his engineer to “leave me alone” over the radio when asked to cool his rubber on the straights. An aggressive, weak-front setup gave him early speed, but left him nowhere as the track dried.
Leclerc ultimately hung on to the final podium spot under intense pressure, dodging a bullet when the chasing McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris collided on the final lap. Kimi Antonelli was also charging hard at the finish, leaving Leclerc to acknowledge they simply lacked the pace in the closing stages.
