Lewis Hamilton took responsibility for failing to pit when he was instructed to in Singapore, which led him to lose three places.
Ferrari told Hamilton to pit during the second Virtual Safety Car period while he was running third. He failed to, which left him at a disadvantage over the final stint.Hamilton was running behind race leader Max Verstappen and the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc when the VSC was deployed. Leclerc did make a second tyre stop and emerged behind his team mate, but easily re-passed him.
Three other drivers caught and passed Hamilton before the end of the race: Lando Norris, who like Hamilton only pitted once, plus two-stoppers Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri. Antonelli pitted under the VSC while Piastri came in later due to a puncture.
After the race Hamilton apologised to his race engineer Carlos Santi and his crew. “Sorry boys, I let you down today with that strategy,” said Hamilton.
“My call, and I lost us valuable points. I’ll try and make up for it in the next one.”
“Great job with the pit stop though,” he added.
“Understood,” Santi replied. “Thank you, Lewis.”
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur revealed the team called Hamilton in but he failed to enter the pits.
“We called them both to pit,” Vasseur told Sky. “It would have been P2, P3 because we were at P2, P3 on-track and he missed the pit entry. Honestly it’s a bit of a shame because he’s losing a podium too.”
This article will be updated
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