Lewis Hamilton’s frustration with his strategy in the Singapore Grand Prix became clear shortly after he was overtaken by his team mate George Russell.

The pair shared the second row of the grid at the start. But Mercedes opted to put Hamilton on soft tyres, which led him to pit earlier than most of his rivals, three of whom passed him before the end of the race. He later said he was “so angry” with the decision.

Here’s how his race unfolded on his radio.

Hamilton’s Singapore Grand Prix radio

Against his wishes, Hamilton started the race on soft tyres

Jump to:

“It’s going to be a tough afternoon”
“You should both be managing”
“You’ve taken too much out”
“It’ll be close with Gasly”
“We just had a bit of a steep drop”
“Have I stopped before everyone?”
“George is coming by because I’ve got no grip”
“Sometimes I wonder why I do this”
“I can see him”
“Just up the lift-and-coast”
“Does everyone else have deg like that?”
“Sorry we gave you a car that was not good enough”

“It’s going to be a tough afternoon”

Hamilton was disappointed to discover that, while his team had decided he should start the race on the soft tyre compound, every other driver in the top 13 lined up on the medium rubber. When he was unable to pass either of the drivers ahead of him at the start, he knew he faced a difficult race.

Lap: 1/62 HAM: 1’42.702
Hamilton Traction metrics look good there.
Hamilton It’s going to be a tough afternoon…
Bonnington As Hamilton rounds turn three on formation lap
Clutch was shallow: 2%.
Bonnington Okay, Lewis, so two burn-outs.
Bonnington And last car approaching the grid.
Bonnington So it’s still George, the car behind.
Bonnington So 1.4 ahead, 1.1 behind.
Bonnington So 1.3 ahead, 1.1 behind. DRS has been enabled.

“You should both be managing”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Singapore, 2024
Russell put Hamilton under pressure early in the race

Hamilton’s team mate George Russell, who started on mediums, briefly closed in, but the team told both they needed to save their tyres at this stage.

Lap: 2/62 HAM: 1’38.853
Bonnington Let’s not focus on chasing these guys down, let’s focus on the management. It’s a long day. Traction metrics looking good at the moment: 1.6 ahead, 0.6 behind.
Hamilton Russell is within seven tenths
George is pushing…
Bonnington Yeah, copy. He’s pushing his traction metrics. You should both be managing.
Bonnington So Verstappen: a 38.9. Piastri, P5, also 38.9. George was 38.5, that last lap.
Lap: 3/62 HAM: 1’39.254
Bonnington Hamilton makes adjustments on his steering wheel
So we’re happy with your switch changes. Traction metrics still looking good.
Lap: 5/62 HAM: 1’38.294
Hamilton Rears are starting to get warm. Already.
Bonnington Copy. So gap: 2.7 ahead, 1.6 behind. Traction metrics are currently low, so you’re doing a good job.

“You’ve taken too much out”

Compounding his problems, Hamilton reported his front wing angle was set too low.

Lap: 7/62 HAM: 1’38.380
Bonnington So Verstappen: 37.8. George: 38.4.
Lap: 8/62 HAM: 1’38.246
Hamilton I can’t match their times.
Bonnington And B-bal [brake balance] currently 1% more forwards than George. That’s just info.
Lap: 11/62 HAM: 1’37.916
Hamilton Getting too much understeer.
Bonnington So a bit too much understeer. We’ll add [front wing angle] for the next tyre. Think about Diff Entry ‘3’ and recommend Exit ’12’.
Lap: 13/62 HAM: 1’38.102
Bonnington Some of the midfield cars are pitting now. It’ll all start happening soon.
Lap: 14/62 HAM: 1’38.174
Bonnington Currently target minus three.
Hamilton …what?
Bonnington So you’re currently target minus three on your stop lap. Target minus three.
Hamilton About two holes [of front wing angle] too little at the moment.
Bonnington Copy.

“It’ll be close with Gasly”

Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, Singapore, 2024
Hamilton’s early pit stop dropped him a long way back

Hamilton pitted earlier than most of the front runners, which dropped him into traffic.

Lap: 16/62 HAM: 1’39.044
Hamilton Yeah, you’ve taken too much [front wing angle] out. And the rears are getting hot.
Bonnington Okay, copy.
Hamilton Tyres are falling off.
Bonnington Okay Lewis, if you’ve got any pace left, then we should start to use it.
Lap: 17/62 HAM: 1’46.862
Bonnington Okay so box, box.
Bonnington Hamilton pits and leaves the box
It will be out lap ‘normal’, so reset your switches. It’ll be close with Gasly. And remember white line on exit.

“We just had a bit of a steep drop”

Bonnington remarked to Hamilton that his soft tyres began to go off particularly quickly at the end of his first stint.

Lap: 18/62 HAM: 1’58.708
Bonnington Hamilton rejoins on hards in 13th, less than a second ahead of Gasly
Gasly, car behind.
Hamilton Am I bringing them in slow?
Bonnington Yeah, copy. Obviously not too slow. Probably targeting high 37s to start.
Hamilton Are other people deg’ing?.
Bonnington Yeah, copy. Others look like they are deg’ing. We just had a bit of a steep drop on that final lap.
Bonnington So George a ‘38.4, last lap. Currently 1.5 seconds safe to him.
Lap: 19/62 HAM: 1’38.202
Bonnington Hamilton has caught Magnussen
And we have no DRS trains ahead until Leclerc.
Bonnington Hamilton passes Magnussen
And next car: Ocon, a ‘39.9. Still 1.8 safe to George.
Hamilton I think I clipped the wall on the way in to the pit lane. Just check the left.
Bonnington We’ll have a look.

“Have I stopped before everyone?”

Facing a 45-lap stint on his hard tyres, Hamilton warned his team it would be difficult for him to keep others behind in the second half of the race.

Lap: 20/62 HAM: 1’38.745
Hamilton Rears are getting hot already…
Hamilton Have I stopped before everyone?
Bonnington We are one of the earlier stoppers, but not the earliest.
Hamilton Yeah, we’ll be in trouble later. Way too short…
Lap: 21/62 HAM: 1’38.916
Bonnington So Lewis, yeah, we’re flexible on everything. We’re looking at all options.
Bonnington And one second safe to George.
Lap: 22/62 HAM: 1’38.194
Hamilton I’m already struggling on this tyre.
Hamilton Feel like I’ve lost rear downforce.
Bonnington Copy. We’ll have a look. Nothing we can see with the car. We think that may just be rear surface temps.

“George is coming by because I’ve got no grip”

Within less than 10 laps of his pit stop, Hamilton had lost enough time to his team mate that Russell could now pit and rejoin the track ahead of him, which he did on lap 27.

Lap: 23/62 HAM: 1’38.396
Bonnington George a ‘38.4, for info.
Hamilton Where am I slow?
Bonnington We’re struggling to find any areas of loss. It’s difficult with traffic.
Lap: 24/62 HAM: 1’38.352
Hamilton Am I at risk?
Bonnington So currently 1.5 safe to George.
Bonnington Hamilton is catching Tsunoda
There’s a decent free air gap ahead of Tsunoda.
Hamilton Yeah, you’re killing me with this offset, mate.
Bonnington Lots of options open to us still, Lewis.
Lap: 25/62 HAM: 1’40.158
Hamilton Hamilton attempts to pass Tsunoda at turn 16, but runs wide
Something’s definitely wrong with the car, mate…
Hamilton Hamilton slides through turns one and three
Tyres are already dropping off.
Bonnington Yeah, that’s all surface temp driven.
Lap: 26/62 HAM: 1’40.171
Bonnington And we’re now zero to George with that at turn 17.
Hamilton Yeah, well, George is coming by because I’ve got no grip, mate.
Bonnington So now unsafe to George and Piastri.

“Sometimes I wonder why I do this”

Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Singapore, 2024
Hamilton passed Tsunoda on lap 28 but was dismayed to see Russell jump ahead of him

Hamilton was especially displeased to see his team mate jump ahead of him.

Lap: 27/62 HAM: 1’39.999
Bonnington Russell pits
So George in pit lane now.
Lap: 28/62 HAM: 1’38.455
Hamilton Sometimes I wonder why I do this.
Lap: 29/62 HAM: 1’38.026
Hamilton Where have I fallen down to?
Bonnington Currently P8 but three cars yet to stop.
Lap: 30/62 HAM: 1’37.833
Hamilton This is the pace of the tyres now.
Bonnington Copy.
Lap: 31/62 HAM: 1’38.440
Bonnington You’re steadily clearing out your Safety Car window behind.
Lap: 32/62 HAM: 1’37.696
Bonnington Lewis only areas of loss are braking turn one, braking turn seven.
Lap: 34/62 HAM: 1’37.413
Bonnington George about to interact with Leclerc who is yet to stop. And we’re pulling Piastri back into our window very slowly. Currently one second unsafe.
Bonnington So losses: Braking, one, five, seven, 16.

“I can see him”

McLaren considered bringing Oscar Piastri in early so that he wouldn’t drop behind Hamilton. Despite their driver’s concerns he wouldn’t be able to pass Hamilton if he fell behind the him, McLaren left him out, and he emerged behind the Mercedes.

Lap: 37/62 HAM: 1’37.938
Hamilton Surfaces still high?
Bonnington Surface temp still hot, but they’re better than they were beginning of stint.
Lap: 38/62 HAM: 1’37.765
Bonnington So pulled Piastri back into our window. Currently one second safe to him.
Bonnington Piastri in this lap, forecast one-and-a-half behind.
Lap: 39/62 HAM: 1’37.971
Bonnington Piastri pit exit.
Bonnington So Piastri 1.4 behind.
Bonnington I can see him, mate.
Bonnington And biggest losses to George, mid-speed five, braking seven.

“Just up the lift-and-coast”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Singapore, 2024
Piastri dropped behind Hamilton but easily passed him

However Piastri picked Hamilton off with ease at turn seven, meaning he now had to worry about the Ferraris closing on him.

Lap: 43/62 HAM: 1’37.393
Bonnington Piastri passes Hamilton at turn seven
Okay, so we’ve got George 37.3. Leclerc’s swapped positions with Sainz so Leclerc car behind, 15 seconds, last lap. So Leclerc in the mid-36s.
Lap: 45/62 HAM: 1’37.801
Bonnington So Leclerc pushing very hard. Purple sectors. Gap at 12.1.
Hamilton How many laps left?
Lap: 46/62 HAM: 1’37.797
Bonnington 17 laps remaining.
Lap: 47/62 HAM: 1’37.922
Bonnington Just up the lift-and-coast by 100 metres at four and 16.
Lap: 49/62 HAM: 1’38.331
Bonnington Gap to Leclerc at 2.8.
Hamilton Are we at risk from Sainz as well?
Bonnington No, not in a straight race.
Bonnington So Leclerc behind, 1.1.

“Does everyone else have deg like that?”

Leclerc passed Hamilton on lap 49. He didn’t lose any more positions from then on, but drew his team’s attention to his high levels of tyre degradation.

Lap: 50/62 HAM: 1’40.411
Bonnington Leclerc passes Hamilton at turn seven
Magnussen has a puncture, currently between 12 and 13.
Lap: 53/62 HAM: 1’38.669
Hamilton Does everyone else have deg like that?
Bonnington So Sainz similar age tyres but two laps more on them, similar deg.
Lap: 54/62 HAM: 1’38.352
Bonnington Sainz 38.2, gap 14.3.
Lap: 57/62 HAM: 1’39.034
Bonnington So we’re in P6, 13 seconds now behind to Sainz.
Hamilton Times of people ahead?
Bonnington So George 37.4 Piastri and Verstappen mid-to-low-36.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Singapore, 2024
The last time he started third, Hamilton won; this time he was sixth

“Sorry we gave you a car that was not good enough”

Not for the first time this year, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff apologised for the performance of their car.

Chequered flag
Bonnington Okay well done Lewis mate, that’s P6. That tyre gamble really shot us in the foot there. If you just pick up rubber please, mate, it’ll be strat 14 and then HPP1 position 12.
Hamilton Yeah definitely hard to stay positive after that weekend. But still grateful to all of you guys for the pit stops and obviously showing up.
Bonnington Thank you, Lewis.
Wolff Yeah Lewis sorry we gave the two of you a car that was just not good enough for you. And obviously we read the race wrong but I don’t think it would have made a difference, we were just too slow today.
Hamilton What was the finishing order?
Bonnington So Norris won the race at a carter. And we’ve got Verstappen P2, Piastri P3, George managed to hold off Leclerc at the end so it was George P4, Leclerc P5.
Hamilton How far was I?
Bonnington It’s 85 seconds to Norris.
Hamilton To the car ahead?
Bonnington 22.8.

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