After Lewis Hamilton once again went against his team over strategy in Singapore, several experts believe there are internal difficulties at the Scuderia
What is the true state of the relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari? After the record-holding world champion once again overruled his team on strategy at the recent race in Singapore, several Formula 1 experts suspect a breakdown in trust.
“It shows quite clearly that Hamilton doesn’t necessarily trust his team at the moment,” says expert Jolyon Palmer, for example, in his column for F1.com. At the Singapore Grand Prix, Ferrari wanted to bring Hamilton into the pits under the virtual safety car.
However, Hamilton ignored the instruction and, as a result, dropped from a podium position to sixth place in the closing stages of the race whilst on old tyres. “If we look back a week to Malaysia, we saw the same mistrust there,” adds Bernie Collins on the Sky Sports F1 Show.
In Sepang, Hamilton had also overruled the team on a strategic decision and, having started on slicks on a drying track, decided against switching to intermediates in the early stages of the race.
Whilst the plan worked out there – with a bit of luck and thanks to a safety car period – and Hamilton eventually finished third, in Singapore he lost several positions due to his decision against a pit stop.
Will Lewis Hamilton “outshine” Ferrari?
Collins believes “that, overall, this shows that Lewis does not trust the Ferrari team. He is questioning their decisions,” says the former Aston Martin head of strategy. Palmer adds that Ferrari must now try, in discussions, “to restore Hamilton’s confidence in his strategy team”.
Ralf Schumacher has also observed that things at Ferrari are currently “not quite harmonious”. “He needs to become part of the team,” he says about Hamilton on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast, explaining: “At the moment, I get the feeling there’s Lewis, and then somewhere else there’s the team.”
“And Lewis is now trying to outshine the whole lot and be the boss there,” Schumacher believes. Hamilton himself apologised to the team over the radio immediately after the race in Singapore for the failed strategy.
Later, he also wrote on social media: “It’s a painful lesson, but I take full responsibility for the decisions I made. In this sport, not every call works out. It’s about accepting when you’re wrong and learning from it.”