Lewis Hamilton calls for major track change for it to become 'truly great circuit'

Lewis Hamilton has called for changes to the Marina Bay Street Circuit, arguing that a longer straight is needed to turn Singapore into "a truly great racing circuit".

Hamilton finished second in Saturday's sprint race behind Max Verstappen, before qualifying third for Sunday's grand prix, split from Red Bull's Verstappen and his own team-mate Charles Leclerc by less than 0.2 seconds.

But despite the tight margins at the front, Hamilton believes the Singapore layout still lacks the characteristics needed for genuinely great racing, pointing specifically to the shortage of overtaking zones around the 19-corner street track.

Marina Bay has undergone several reconfigurations over time, including the removal of the Turn 10 'Singapore Sling' chicane in 2013 and the introduction of a 398-metre straight ahead of the 2023 race, when the old Turns 16 to 19 complex was bypassed due to redevelopment work on the Bay Grandstand area.

Speaking to media, including RacingNews365, Hamilton made clear he enjoys racing at the Marina Bay venue, but feels the circuit falls short of its potential.

"I love the race here," said Hamilton. "I really do love the race.

"I was saying to Max, I think they need to change the track to maybe have a longer straight somewhere for it to be a truly great racing circuit.

"Because I think it has the potential to be a great racing circuit. It's a great track to drive over a single lap in qualifying, but there literally just aren't many... There's like one place, I guess, that you could potentially get close to overtake.

"But then in other places, like [Turn] 16, the crest in the middle of the track, sparks come up because the track isn't particularly flat. I don't know if it's for the rain or whatever it is, but I think there are some adjustments that can be made to make this 100 per cent a great circuit.

"Whether they're going to do that, I don't know. But I thought it [the sprint] was fun. If it was dry, that would have probably been the most boring race for you to have watched. It was the wet, the rain, that made it exciting.

"So, if you can always make it rain, then it's always going to be a great sprint race. But otherwise, it would probably just have been straightforward tyre management."