News Summary
- Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari must work together to challenge Max Verstappen for victory in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.
- Hamilton qualified third, 0.123s behind Verstappen, with teammate Charles Leclerc second and just 0.054s away from pole.
- The seven-time world champion admitted that repeated oversteer problems in Q3 prevented him from converting his strong Q1 and Q2 pace into pole.
Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari will need to use both cars to put Max Verstappen under pressure during Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, after qualifying third behind the Red Bull driver and teammate Charles Leclerc at Marina Bay.
The seven-time world champion had shown strong pace throughout Saturday’s qualifying session, topping both Q1 and Q2 before struggling with oversteer during his final attempts. Hamilton finished with a 1:31.496, just 0.123s behind Verstappen’s pole time of 1:31.373.
Ferrari secured second and third on the grid, with Leclerc qualifying only 0.054s behind Verstappen, giving the Italian team an opportunity to challenge Red Bull with both drivers at the front.
Hamilton says Ferrari must work together to challenge Verstappen
Hamilton praised Red Bull’s development progress and acknowledged that Verstappen would be difficult to beat, particularly after the Dutchman’s victory in Saturday’s rain-affected sprint.
“Yeah, I think, I mean, Red Bull have done a fantastic job. You know, they’ve done a great job with their engine, but I think also with their car,” Hamilton said after qualifying.
“It’s obviously a great team and I think they brought back an upgrade in Baku, which has really put them at the front.”
The Briton believes Ferrari’s strongest opportunity lies in using both cars to challenge Verstappen rather than relying on individual pace alone.
“And I think it’s really still a good result for us to have two Ferraris up there. We could definitely, hopefully work as a team tomorrow to try and hold on to Max and put them under pressure.”
“I think that’s the only way it’s going to be. I’m sure he’s going to be fast, but hopefully together as a team, we can potentially, who knows, we’ll see if we can get ahead of them.”
The complete Singapore qualifying results show Verstappen on pole ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton, with Kimi Antonelli fourth for Mercedes.
Hamilton reveals why Ferrari lost pole in Q3
Hamilton had been Ferrari’s fastest driver during Q1 and Q2, with the car responding positively to setup changes made before qualifying.
However, he admitted that the final segment proved considerably more difficult, particularly through the opening corners.
“Yeah, another difficult Q3. Congrats to Max and he did a great job,” Hamilton said.
“Yeah, we made some changes going into qualifying. The car was feeling so much better and I really felt like she had more in her.”
“So we were just pushing her more and more through the laps and through the sessions. Q1 and Q2 were awesome.”
“We got to Q3 and snaps into one and three, put me two tenths down. The rest of the lap was good. And then the last lap, just again struggled with snapping.”
Hamilton explained that the SF-26 remained difficult to balance as grip levels improved throughout the session.
“So I think there’s a real fine line with our car where it’s over the edge or under the limit and finding that sweet spot is very, very difficult.”
“I think I probably had it in the first two, but you have to look for the progress of the track, the grip coming up. And so you have to kind of react to that.”
“In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have. So it wasn’t great enough for myself.”
The difficulties followed a similar problem during Friday’s sprint qualifying, when Hamilton admitted that his run-plan decision had contributed to a disappointing sixth place.
Ferrari targets Verstappen after double podium in sprint
Ferrari’s opportunity on Sunday follows its strongest collective performance of the Singapore weekend.
Hamilton finished second in Saturday’s sprint, with Leclerc third, while Verstappen secured victory after George Russell crashed out of the lead.
The result allowed Ferrari to reduce Mercedes’ advantage in the Constructors’ Championship, with the Italian team now 143 points behind the championship leaders.
Verstappen subsequently secured his 50th career Grand Prix pole, ending Red Bull’s 13-year wait for pole at Singapore.
As GRANDE PRÊMIO reported after qualifying, Leclerc also believed Ferrari had the potential to secure pole despite braking problems and an imperfect final lap.
Hamilton and Leclerc will start immediately behind Verstappen, with the Ferrari drivers seeking to convert their qualifying performance into a challenge for victory.
The updated Singapore GP schedule, including Sunday’s race time is available in GRANDE PRÊMIO, which follows the latest Formula 1 news throughout the Singapore GP weekend.
