Why Hamilton was left regretting a lack of Singapore performance

Lewis Hamilton returned to the Formula 1 podium in the Singapore Grand Prix, but the Mercedes driver was left frustrated with a lack of qualifying pace.

Hamilton lined up fifth at Marina Bay and made a decent start before running wide through Turns 2 and 3, before giving back third and fourth to George Russell and Lando Norris.

The 103-time Grand Prix winner was in position along with Russell to pit for the saved set of new Mediums Mercedes had up its sleeve during the Esteban Ocon Virtual Safety Car.

Hamilton began to eat into the five-second advantage Russell held as the two British drivers charged towards the leading Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc gaggle.

Leclerc was quickly dispatched, with Hamilton finishing third after both could not get past Norris and Russell crashed on the final lap.

It was a fifth podium of the year for Hamilton - equalling the lowest season tally of his career, as he felt more could have been extracted in qualifying to set up a better race.

Hamilton's regret

"I think Carlos had really good pace, so I think I can't say that it would have been easy to have won," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365.

"But our car was very strong. I think if I had qualified better perhaps third, or even on the front row with these guys, perhaps we would have been in a better place.

"As a team, we would have been able to work better together, because when you separate the cars a little bit more, it makes it really hard to work against two other drivers from another team. So, I've got to do a better job there.

"But I'm really grateful for the hard work that everyone continues to do.

"[The team did] great pit-stops, were faultless in their performance through the weekend, and also with the strategy and everything.

So, I think we are progressing. We’ve just got to keep working away.

"[It was clear to pit under the VSC], we needed to take the risk, have a shot at trying to get past some of these guys and going for the win.

"We had really good pace. I think George was in second at the time, and maybe if I was in his position, I probably would have stayed out and at least kept the McLaren behind.

"But we gave it a shot, and it was really fun to be hunting these guys down, but it was just too difficult to pass in the end."