Former Formula 1 strategist and Sky Sports pundit Bernie Collins says Lewis Hamilton is grappling with a “lack of trust” in Ferrari’s pit wall following the Singapore Grand Prix.
While Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli contends for the drivers’ championship and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the Singapore weekend, Hamilton’s race unravelled during a virtual safety car period.
Hamilton initially pitted on lap 19 and had the opportunity for a cheaper second stop under the virtual safety car on lap 40, after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll stopped on track with a clutch issue.
Although Ferrari called him in after teammate Charles Leclerc, the seven-time champion decided to stay out on track to try and make the one-stop strategy work.
By the latter stages of the race, Hamilton was struggling on older tyres. He ultimately finished sixth.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show, Collins argued the incident demonstrated Hamilton’s lack of trust in the team.
“Someone of Lewis’s stature doesn’t forget to do a pitstop. So let’s say it’s a decision to not take the pit entry or the call didn’t come in time or whatever. But that was crucial, I think, to the race at that point,” she explained.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Now, if we go back a week to Malaysia, we had the same sort of lack of trust for want of another word. They started on a dry tyre. Then the call came to switch to an intermediate tyre. Lewis said, ‘That’s the wrong thing. We need to stick this out now.’
“He had a discussion with the pitwall, stayed on the tyre that he was on and ultimately that ended up very similar to Leclerc towards the end of the race. However, I do think that shows more globally that Lewis isn’t trusting that Ferrari team. He’s questioning their decisions.”
Hamilton apologised to the team after the race, confirming it was his call to remain on track.
