Lewis Hamilton explains why he overruled Ferrari F1 strategy instruction

Lewis Hamilton has explained his decision to overrule Ferrari's strategy during his doomed one-stop race in Singapore.

Starting on the mediums, Hamilton abandoned the strategy early at Marina Bay, after it became apparent that the softs were the favoured race tyre, and was faced with completing 44 laps on a set of the used red-marked rubber.

However, halfway through the stint, a virtual safety car was deployed, potentially handing Hamilton a free stop, with team-mate Charles Leclerc taking the opportunity, but Hamilton did not follow the team instruction to pit. 

Ultimately, in the final 10 laps, he ran out of tyres as they fell off the cliff, dropping behind Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri to finish sixth, as he took initial responsibility on the cooldown lap for the failure.

Hamilton then did not attend the written media pen session after reporting he felt unwell, with the FIA granting him permission not to attend after a medical check-up by doctors.

Therefore, speaking at length about the decision for the first time publicly, Hamilton explained that the decision not to pit under the VSC was a "split-second" call he got wrong.

"Firstly, you learn from these experiences, and it's rare that I find myself in that position," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Of course, the next couple of days didn't feel so great, but you live, and you learn. I think when I was lining up on the grid, when I knew I was going to be third, I'm always looking at ways to win. 

"I'm always looking at doing potentially something different, and I wanted to be on a different strategy, not just the same strategy as Charles, where we just follow each other. The strategy ultimately, we assumed that Max would be potentially quick, and the strategy showed us finishing second and third, and that's not enough for me. 

"I wanted to have options and see what could be possible should the tyre last. If the medium tyre could last longer, maybe you go deeper into the race, but it wasn't the case when I got going, and it didn't feel great in the first stint. 

"Then, obviously, coming out behind Charles and losing a lot of time with him on a slower tyre, which I was on at the beginning, and I had the pace on the Soft, it was a bit of a similar scenario to Zandvoort. But I think I was coming towards the pit lane entry and I didn't know Charles was coming in, because I think he'd only recently stopped. 

"It was a split-second decision, and I decided to stay out. As soon as I was alongside the pit lane, I realised it was probably the wrong decision. But I owned up to it, took responsibility for it, and moved on."

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Hamilton's Ferrari conversations

Turning to the conversations with the team between the two grands prix, Hamilton spoke of finding ways to "continuously challenge the team and the norms."

"We've had good conversations in the background about how we can do better together and how we can collaborate better," he added.

"But I think nothing's changed in terms of how well we work together in the background. I truly believe my job, rather than to follow suit always, is to continuously challenge the team and myself, including constantly challenging the norms. 

"And that's ultimately how I've got to where I am. I will not shy away from that. Sometimes it doesn't go well, and that was one of those times. 

"But you live to fight another day. And we win and lose as a team, so we carry the weight and the cost together. It definitely hurts when I lose points for the team. 

"It's not something I do very often, but I'll double my efforts to make sure that doesn't happen again."