Following an incredibly intense qualifying session under the floodlights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix from the second row of the grid. While Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen successfully secured pole position—edging out Charles Leclerc by a mere 0.054 seconds - Lewis Hamilton followed closely in third, just 0.123s off the ultimate pace. Despite the strong starting position, the seven-time world champion was visibly frustrated by his final flying laps during the Q3 shootout.
Hamilton
Speaking with broadcaster Jolyon Palmer immediately after the session, Lewis Hamilton detailed exactly how a sudden lack of rear grip derailed his shot at a front-row start. While the SF-26 felt incredibly dialled in during the earlier segments of qualifying, track evolution ultimately pushed the car completely out of its ideal operating window.
"Yeah, another difficult Q3. Congrats to Max and he did a great job," Lewis Hamilton admitted. "We made some changes going into qualifying. The car was feeling so much better, and I really felt like she had more in her."
Leclerc and Hamilton
However, as the track gripped up, the rear of the Ferrari became incredibly unpredictable. "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," Lewis Hamilton explained. "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."
Lewis Hamilton currently sits in 3 position in the drivers' championship with 221 points.
Source: Motorsport
