Hamilton thought victory possible in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton suffered his first retirement of the season at the Singapore GP following an electrical problem while in fourth place ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. If the pilots Mercedes, lacking performance since the start of the weekend, could not hope to return to regularity at the front, the staggered strategy with a second stint on soft tires allowed them to hope for a comeback.

“I was really very optimistic. The drivers in front of me had super soft tires, I was on soft compounds and I could easily keep up with the pace”, explained Lewis Hamilton who retired before the second interruption. "JI told myself that we had the race in our hands. I was just waiting for the moment where I could attack and see what I could do with the car, but that moment didn't come. I lost power, I hoped to resolve the problem quickly but we couldn't. »

Lewis Hamilton preferred to retire to preserve his engine, the Briton quickly lost all hope of getting into the points as his lack of performance was so significant. “I knew the points were out of reach when I got overtaken by the Manor”, recognized the Championship leader who maintains a lead of 41 points over Nico Rosberg.

Discover the analysis of the Singapore Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2030 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.