Lewis Hamilton says he “battled as hard as I could to fight to go onto the medium tyre but the team continued to suggest that I start on the soft”.
Lewis Hamilton started the Singapore Grand Prix from P3, and the team decided to put him on soft tyres.
This meant that he had to pit a lot earlier than his rivals, and ultimately this decision cost him several places, as he finished the race in P6.
Later, at an event in Kuala Lumpur, Lewis said he fought the team to start the race of softs.
“It wasn’t fun,” the Briton said.
“We sat in our meeting in the morning ahead of the race and the night before they had already mentioned that they would like to split the cars.
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“I was a bit perplexed by it, because in the past when we’ve ever been in that position, if George has qualified well, like he normally does and I’m out of the top 10 or something, then we would split the strategies.
“But when we were so close it didn’t make sense to me and so I battled as hard as I could to fight to go onto the medium tyre but the team continued to suggest that I start on the soft.
“And then they took the tyre blankets off and everyone was on mediums. I was so angry – already from that moment I am frustrated.
“I had to stop on Lap 17 and I knew from that moment that the race was done for me because the hard tyre was going to be a struggle in that heat,” Hamilton concluded.