Lewis Hamilton apologised to his Ferrari team for his costly decision not to pit during the second Virtual Safety Car period during yesterday’s Singapore Grand Prix.

His decision undoubtedly ruined his race. Having been on course for a podium finish Hamilton slumped to sixth place at the finish.

According to the team, Hamilton was unwell after the race, visited the Medical Centre and was excused from speaking to the media. He therefore did not explain what went wrong.

However he revealed the decision not to pit under the VSC was his in a radio message to Ferrari after the race. “I let you down today with that strategy,” he said. “My call, and I lost us valuable points.”

Afterwards Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur confirmed Ferrari called Hamilton in, along with team mate Charles Leclerc, at that point. But only Leclerc came into the pits, where the Ferrari pit crew were waiting with two sets of tyres.

“We called them both to pit,” Vasseur told Sky, adding Hamilton “missed the pit entry.”

Ferrari’s version of events was entirely consistent. However the onboard footage from Hamilton’s car gives no indication of any conversation between him and race engineer Carlos Santi about pitting during the second Virtual Safety Car period.

During the first VSC period early in the race Ferrari told both drivers not to come in:

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Lap: 8/62 LEC: 1’44.725, HAM: 1’44.880
Bryan Bozzi	We stay out, stay out. Mode Safety Car.	Carlos Santi	Virtual Safety Car deployed, stay out and stay positive, mode Safety Car.
Leclerc	Opposite to Red Bull?	Santi	And stay out.
Bozzi	Please stay out, stay out.
Lap: 9/62 LEC: 1’53.334, HAM: 1’54.015
Bozzi	The cars you’re fighting with have all stayed out.	Hamilton	It’s quite hard to keep up with these guys. He’s just got more grip.
Leclerc	How is it looking for overtaking behind?	Santi	Understood. The soft looks better than the medium at the moment.
Bozzi	Virtual Safety Car ending. Looks hard still for now, Russell P13, started P17. [Corrects himself] P19.	Santi	Virtual Safety Car ending, mode race.

However during the second VSC period Leclerc was told to pit. No discussion about pitting was heard on Hamilton’s onboard channel:

Lap: 39/62 LEC: 1’59.717, HAM: 1’58.638
Bozzi	And box, Charles box. Box Charles, box.	Santi	Yellow flag 15, Virtual Safety Car, stay positive. Mode Safety Car. Gap is 10 seconds behind.
Bozzi	Box. Be close with Norris, you should be ahead.
Lap: 40/62 LEC: 2’05.407, HAM: 1’53.801
Bozzi	So Antonelli boxed and Hamilton, er, stayed out. Mode Safety Car please.
Leclerc	Yeah, maybe don’t say information if you don’t know.
Leclerc	Virtual Safety Car ending, mode race.
Lap: 41/62 LEC: 1’35.202, HAM: 1’37.504
		Santi	Also Mercedes pitted while McLaren didn’t.

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However this does not mean no discussion took place between Hamilton and his race engineer at this time. FOM has the capability to mute radio messages on the onboard channel. When this is the case, the message still passes between driver and team, but is not played on the channel broadcast on F1 TV and elsewhere.

There have been many past occasions when drivers’ radio messages have not been broadcast on FOM’s onboard channel. These include Fernando Alonso complaining about race control during the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix and Carlos Sainz Jnr complaining about his penalty in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.

In some cases, though the messages are muted on the onboard channel, they are later broadcast elsewhere such as on the world feed or clips published online.

Why Hamilton’s message would not be broadcast is not clear. FOM has previously indicated they do so to “protect” drivers if they appear to be very angry and use especially strong language. That is unlikely to have been the case here and there may be a simpler explanation such as a technical fault: Hamilton’s video feed also briefly cut out around the same time.

The footage from Hamilton’s onboard camera indicates there was a message between him and the pit wall which was not broadcast at this time. Hamilton can be seen activating his radio with his right thumb, illuminating the green lights on his steering wheel, multiple times during the VSC period.

One of these messages occured as Hamilton passed Lance Stroll’s stationary Aston Martin, which triggered the VSC period. He may have decided the VSC period was likely to end soon and therefore trying to pit was too risky. In fact the VSC lasted long enough for him to pit, though it was cancelled when George Russell, running much further behind Hamilton, came in.

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By staying out, Hamilton temporarily jumped ahead of Leclerc. However his team mate easily passed him, and three other drivers overtook him before the end of the race:

Lap: 43/62 HAM: 1’37.381
Santi	We are on plan B. We are getting close. We’re getting close, flap update.
Hamilton	Can I not just hold it out?
Santi	Coming back to you.
Lap: 44/62 HAM: 1’37.541
Santi	And we are six laps short to do Plan C.
Hamilton	Can I hold position? Like, if I pit, what do I lose?
Santi	We are losing two positions with a delta pace advantage.
Hamilton	Well, if we’re already losing two positions, should I wait to see if a VSC or something comes out?
Santi	We can try.
Lap: 45/62 HAM: 1’37.561
Santi	Charles is one and a half a second faster, don’t lose time with him.
Hamilton	How many laps left?
Santi	18 laps to go. Leclerc passes Hamilton

Norris attacked Hamilton next. Both drivers went off at turn one, which allowed Andrea Kimi Antonelli to pass Norris. The Mercedes driver then passed Hamilton, and on the next lap Norris also battled his way past:

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Lap: 47/62 HAM: 1’38.033
Santi	Lando 4.5 behind.
Santi	15 laps to go when you cross the line.
Lap: 48/62 HAM: 1’38.050
Santi	And drink, reminder, drink, reminder.
Lap: 49/62 HAM: 1’37.507
Santi	Norris 3.5.
Lap: 50/62 HAM: 1’37.693
Santi	Lando 2.5, 13 laps to go.
Lap: 52/62 HAM: 1’38.126
Santi	Lando has overtake.
Santi	BB1, suggestion, BB1.
Santi	And boost out of 14, boost out 14.
Lap: 53/62 HAM: 1’39.092
Santi	Boost one.
Hamilton	I’m losing these tyres mate.
Santi	Boost out of 14 in the middle of the straight.
Lap: 54/62 HAM: 1’40.977
Hamilton	I locked up, went straight.
Santi	Copy.
Hamilton	Yeah, I got no tyres left mate.

Hamilton was now badly struggling with his tyres and Oscar Piastri took fifth place off him on the penultimate lap:

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Lap: 55/62 HAM: 1’41.645
Hamilton	How many more laps left, mate?
Santi	Eight laps to go.
Hamilton	Can I hold this position?
Santi	We need 38.0, seven laps to go when you cross the line, Piastri 13 behind.
Lap: 57/62 HAM: 1’38.641
Hamilton	How many laps left?
Santi	Six laps to go, Piastri eight behind.
Lap: 58/62 HAM: 1’38.894
Santi	Five laps to go, Piastri 6.5.
Lap: 59/62 HAM: 1’38.579
Santi	Four laps to go, Piastri four behind.
Santi	EB1, suggestion, EB1.
Lap: 60/62 HAM: 1’39.754
Santi	Three laps to go, Piastri two.
Santi	Boost available everywhere.
Lap: 62/62 HAM: 1’40.601
Santi	And last lap.
Santi	Boost available everywhere.
Chequered flag
Santi	We finished P6, Max won the race, Charles second, Antonelli third, Norris fourth, Piastri fifth.
Santi	And mode charge. And please cool the car down.
Hamilton	Sorry boys, I let you down today with that strategy. My call lost us valuable points. I’ll try to make up for it in the next one. Great job with the pit stop though.
Santi	Understood, thank you Lewis.

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2026 Singapore Grand Prix

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