“In the future you need to listen to me”: Lewis Hamilton ridicules intermediate tires while struggling for grip in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton was struggling with grip with the intermediate tires in Singapore and he ridiculed it on the team radio. 

Fans were fearful about whether the Singapore GP would go ahead as planned on Sunday evening or not. The rain came pouring down right before the race was about to begin, and race control delayed the starting procedures. A lot of people compared the situation to that of the Belgian GP in 2021, but thankfully the rain gods were merciful on F1 today.

The 2022 Singapore GP started an hour late and all the drivers started the race on intermediate tires. Earlier this year, a lot of drivers criticized the FIA for refusing to start races in full-wet conditions, because the green-marked intermediates don’t have enough grip.

When the race started today, drivers had to deal with the same problem today. They had troubles with grip and Hamilton in particular was not enjoying the opening stint on the intermediate tires.

“I told you about these tires,” Hamilton said on the team radio. “In the future, you guys need to listen to me. No grip!”

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Lewis Hamilton crashes in Singapore

Drivers were struggling with grip in Singapore and Hamilton was no exception. We saw a lot of drivers lock up during the Singapore GP, and it led to many of them hitting the barriers and damaging their front wing.

Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi were forced to retire because of this, and Hamilton too suffered a huge scare. He locked up and hit the barriers, which damaged the left side of his front wing.

Hamilton was in the mix for a P3 finish at the Marina Bay Circuit and was on Carlos Sainz’s tail for the majority of the race. However, the crash meant that he rejoined the race in P6, and then had to pit for a change of wing. This brought Hamilton down to P9 momentarily, bringing an end to podium hopes for the weekend.

Mercedes overall had a very disappointing weekend in Singapore. It was looking like they were set for a strong result  because the car showed some real pace. Both Hamilton and teammate George Russell, however, ended up having disappointing outings.

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