'They need a reset' - Has trust broken down between Hamilton, Ferrari pit wall?
Ferrari's strategy decisions and communication with their drivers came under fresh scrutiny at the Singapore Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton overrode a call to pit.
Key points
- Hamilton ignored Ferrari's call to pit under the lap-39 Virtual Safety Car in Singapore.
- He finished sixth instead of a likely third and later apologised for his call.
- Sky Sports pundits said trust between Hamilton and Ferrari's pit wall may have broken down.
Ferrari's race strategy and communication with Lewis Hamilton came under scrutiny at the Singapore Grand Prix after Hamilton overrode a team call to pit. He finished sixth instead of a likely third after not heeding the pit wall's request to stop under a lap-39 Virtual Safety Car.
Hamilton apologised on team radio for "my call" and later said on social media he had learned a painful lesson by choosing a strategy that did not deliver. It was the second straight weekend that Ferrari's strategy was debated, after the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia the week before.
What the pundits said
On The F1 Show podcast, Sky Sports F1's Bernie Collins, a former head of race strategy at Aston Martin, was asked whether Singapore showed trust between Hamilton and the Ferrari pit wall had broken down. Collins said Hamilton chose the medium tyre, stopped early and put on softs, then missed the chance to pit again under the VSC.
Collins added that Hamilton is not trusting Ferrari and is questioning their decisions. She said drivers should generally defer to the pit wall but teams can give more information earlier, citing her time with Sebastian Vettel.
Lewis isn't trusting that Ferrari team.
— Bernie Collins
What Ferrari should change
Fellow Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok said Ferrari need some sort of reset in how they handle strategy discussions. He said Hamilton was annoyed with how Ferrari ran the race, noting he was the only top-seven finisher to start on the medium tyre yet pitted first.
Chandhok said Ferrari did not explain the big picture to either driver and did not manage the phase when Hamilton was stuck behind Charles Leclerc. He said the strategy team should have told Hamilton his tyres were 21 laps old and he would be passed.
