Lewis Hamilton took responsibility for the decision to make only one Q3 attempt in Singapore Sprint Qualifying after Ferrari went from threatening an all-red front row to finishing third and sixth. However, the bigger problem for the seven-time world champion was an unexpected lack of rear grip on the soft tyre, which left the SF-26 sliding throughout his decisive lap.
Ferrari had looked extremely competitive until the end of Q2. Charles Leclerc topped the session with Lewis Hamilton second, a result that would have put both red cars on the front row. Instead, the final segment produced a very different outcome as Ferrari’s rivals made a bigger step when everyone switched to the soft compound. The change mirrored the broader pattern of a session in which Ferrari was strongest on the medium tyre before losing ground on the soft.
Lewis Hamilton takes responsibility for Ferrari’s one-lap Q3 plan
The result left Charles Leclerc third and Lewis Hamilton sixth, creating more questions than answers after Ferrari had appeared capable of locking out the front row. Much of the time lost by Charles Leclerc came on the straights, whereas Lewis Hamilton’s deficit was primarily linked to a balance problem. In his case, the difficulty appeared to be connected less to aerodynamics and more to tyre preparation.
Ferrari followed a different programme from its rivals during the final attempts. Charles Leclerc completed two runs, with only one lap between them to cool the tyres. Lewis Hamilton, by contrast, returned to the circuit later and had only a single timed lap in which to immediately find the required performance. The British driver accepted responsibility for that approach, although Max Verstappen also completed only one attempt and still managed to secure pole position.
“Everything seemed to be going well in Q1 and Q2, then we followed a slightly different programme compared to the others. It was my choice and I think we got it wrong. In the end, though, the car was very oversteery on that lap,” Lewis Hamilton explained after qualifying, highlighting how much the rear of the SF-26 was sliding.
Radio message adds frustration at the start of Hamilton’s final lap
There was another unusual moment right at the beginning of Lewis Hamilton’s decisive lap. Through the opening three corners, his race engineer came onto the radio to suggest that he should remain ahead of the other cars. The intervention irritated the British driver, who referred to it again after completing the lap.
Even so, that radio exchange was not the main reason for the lack of performance. The decisive factor was the unexpected oversteer that appeared once Lewis Hamilton began pushing on the soft compound. Ferrari had already identified rear stability as an important technical challenge heading into Marina Bay, with the SF-26 potentially vulnerable when the driver cannot rely on consistent rear-end behaviour and traction.
Ferrari’s soft tyre completely changes Hamilton’s balance
Lewis Hamilton had been much more comfortable on the medium tyres. The behaviour on the soft was therefore particularly surprising, especially because Ferrari had been one of the relatively few teams to test that compound during FP1, even though the conditions in practice differed from those encountered in qualifying.
On the final run, Lewis Hamilton found himself with a car that was extremely responsive at the front but unstable at the rear. That type of balance makes traction especially difficult and also creates problems through longer, loaded corners. It was therefore no surprise that much of the time he lost compared with Charles Leclerc came through the second sector and on the approach to the final corner, where the rear continued to slide.
“I don’t know whether the rear tyres were not yet in the correct temperature window or whether they had overheated. It’s difficult to say, but the oversteer was really very sharp and sudden, and overall it wasn’t a good lap,” Lewis Hamilton admitted.
Lewis Hamilton unsure whether rear tyres were too cold or too hot
The precise reason for the rear-grip loss remained unclear to Lewis Hamilton. He could not determine whether the tyres had failed to reach their ideal operating temperature or had instead gone beyond it. What was clear was the dramatic contrast between the balance he had experienced earlier in the session and the behaviour of the car on his final Q3 lap.
“The car was good on the medium tyres. On the softs, though, it was very different. There was a lot of grip, but only at the front and nothing at the rear. It could be a balance issue, but in the end that’s how it went. Obviously I had the pace in the first two sessions and then, suddenly, I couldn’t extract it anymore. For some reason I had no rear grip on that final lap, so it is what it is.”
The disappointment was amplified by how strong Ferrari had looked just minutes earlier. With Charles Leclerc first and Lewis Hamilton second in Q2, the Scuderia had appeared capable of challenging for the front row before the switch to soft tyres transformed the competitive picture. The final result instead left Charles Leclerc third and Lewis Hamilton sixth, with the latter accepting his part in the decision to commit to a single attempt while also facing a tyre-balance problem he had not encountered on the medium compound. More updates on the seven-time world champion’s Ferrari campaign are available in the Lewis Hamilton section.
Leave a Reply