Lewis Hamilton pinpoints 'knife-edge' mistake in latest Max Verstappen defeat

Lewis Hamilton has explained how he accidentally sent his Ferrari over the "knife-edge" in pursuit of pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Entering Q3 at Marina Bay, Hamilton was favourite for pole, having topped both the Q1 and Q2 segments, the first time he has done since joining the team at the start of the 2025 season, with Sprint pole-sitter and race-winner Max Verstappen eighth and second, in the two segments, respectively. 

Hamilton was 0.110s faster than Verstappen in Q2, but on the first runs in Q3, the Red Bull driver flipped that advantage on the Ferrari to 0.123s with the pair sitting first and second. 

However, on the final run, Hamilton failed to improve his time, lapping 0.152s slower than his personal best, leaving the door ajar for someone to deny him a spot on successive Verstappen-Hamilton front rows, which team-mate Charles Leclerc did. 

Leclerc was 0.069s faster than Hamilton and 0.054s slower than Verstappen, as Hamilton detailed how a minor change made to the "amazing feeling" of the SF-26 had derailed his bid for a first grand prix pole for the Scuderia, and his own first since the 2023 Hungarian GP. 

"I think it was just balance. The car felt good. I think my team, the engineers, did a fantastic job, as well as the mechanics, between the sessions," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365. 

"I think the car felt amazing in Q1 and Q2, and when I finished the laps, I was like, 'She's got more in her.' And the only way in order to try and extract that is to try and add wing. 

"In doing so, I think it just tipped it over the edge. It was only like one hole or something like that, but it was just on the knife-edge, and after that then the car was just snappy, and none of the laps in Q3 was any good. 

"So, I'm grateful to be third, to be honest, given that those laps weren't very good."

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Hamilton spies benefit of third

In qualifying third, it means Hamilton will be on the 'clean' side of the grid, on the racing line as opposed to the 'dirty' side that Leclerc will take up. 

Hamilton expressed his hope of being able to get a good launch and then with two Ferraris up against one Red Bull, "apply the pressure" on Verstappen. 

"I mean, the right side is hopefully a little bit better to start on. It's obviously a short start, so the start that I had was obviously in the wet, so it's much different when it's dry," he added.

"I think [the race] will be dry, and it'll be very hard for us to beat Max, but there's two Ferraris there, and I think we can hopefully... there might be opportunities for us to work together to try and apply the pressure. 

"They're very, very quick, but I think we have the car in a good place that hopefully we can at least hold on."