Lewis Hamilton revealed that he had a difficult weekend in Singapore but was pleased to be on the podium after beating Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to third place.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver was confused being so slow compared to his race winning team-mate Nico Rosberg, with Hamilton struggling with the cooling of the brakes which prevented him from challenging the top two.
“A difficult day and a difficult weekend. At one stage it looked like I might even miss out on the podium but fortunately it didn’t work out that way. It was an okay start. I didn’t lose any ground which is a good thing after the last one.”
“The brakes were near critical temperature for most of the race, so I kept having to back off to cool them down. I then ended up making a mistake and ran wide which let Kimi past. Fortunately, with the car a bit lighter, I was able to bring the temperatures down, push a bit more on fresh tyres and get back past him in the stops.”
Hamilton and Raikkonen battled throughout the race, but a quick strategy change allowed the three-time World Champion to take the third place.
“Pace and strategy weren’t the issue – it was all down to the brakes. I was just watching the leaders pull away right from the start, so P2 was the maximum today. If that’s the worst weekend of the year, I’ll definitely take it.”
Hamilton is already looking ahead to Malaysia after a disappointing weekend but with Nico Rosberg taking the lead in the Championship, Hamilton will have to get back on track.
“These things are sent to try us and now I’m just looking forward to the next one and a chance to give it another shot. I need a couple of strong weekends to get back to where I need to be.”
