Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari 'reset' urged after latest strategic shocker

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have been urged to "reset" after another strategic mix-up, this time in Singapore, according to Karun Chandhok, who believes trust between the seven-time champion and his pit wall is "cracking".

The Singapore Grand Prix brought fresh confusion for the Scuderia, with Hamilton finishing sixth after starting in third, well adrift of team-mate Charles Leclerc, who took second behind Max Verstappen. 

It came just a week after Ferrari got its tyre call badly wrong in Malaysia, sending Hamilton out on slicks rather than intermediates at the start of a race affected by rain, a decision that left him scrambling to recover while rivals who chose correctly gained large chunks of time.

Chandhok, speaking on the Sky F1 podcast, pointed to contradictory comments from Hamilton in the build-up to the Marina Bay weekend as evidence of friction behind the scenes at Maranello.

Chandhok said: "I think they've got to have some sort of reset because, on Thursday, when we arrived in Singapore, Lewis stood up in the media pen and said, 'I don't understand why Ferrari are being criticised more than anybody else. McLaren also started on the slick tyres. I don't know why we're being criticised more than anybody else.' 

"And then, when he was pressed on it, he kind of contradicted himself by saying, 'Well, I of course wanted to start on the intermediates, but I was talked out of it by three other people from the team. We had a meeting and made this decision, and they convinced me to go to the slicks in Malaysia.'"

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari relationship showing signs of 'cracking'

Hamilton's sixth-place finish in Singapore came as Leclerc banked 18 points to his team-mate's eight, a gap that will do little to ease questions over the communication between the Briton and his side of the Ferrari garage heading into the final rounds of the season.

Singapore was a bizarre race for Hamilton, who apologised to the team as he crossed the finish line and owed up to it being him who chose the unusual strategy and to also not pit during the virtual safety car.

Chandhok went on to argue that the Singapore result compounded the damage, with Hamilton appearing to lose faith in the team's calls on track.

"Already, the trust is slightly cracking, and here (Singapore), he quite clearly decided not to trust their decision," added Chandhok.

"I think he was annoyed by the fact, and I'll rewind it: I think Ferrari played quite a few things badly.

"They started him on the medium tyre, and he was the first to pit. So that straight away is a bit confusing. Of the top seven finishers, he's the only one who started on the medium tyre, and he was the first to pit."