Lando Norris Critiques Ferrari Strategy After Singapore Showdown with Hamilton

Lando Norris had a front-row seat to Ferrari's strategic blunder at the Singapore Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton's gamble to stay out during a virtual safety car backfired spectacularly. Hamilton, initially elevated to second place ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, struggled to maintain his position as his soft tyres, fitted on lap 18, wore down long before the finish on lap 62. This left Hamilton with no choice but to let Leclerc pass, eventually succumbing to the advances of Kimi Antonelli, Norris, and Oscar Piastri.

Ferrari's decision to start Hamilton on medium tyres was aimed at pressuring polesitter Max Verstappen, but it quickly unraveled. Hamilton, who admitted he should have pitted alongside Leclerc, found himself losing ground, holding up a train of cars that included Antonelli, Norris, and Piastri. The idea was to exploit the medium tyres' durability, yet Hamilton ended up pitting earlier than anyone, a testament to the poor performance of his tyres.

Norris, caught in the traffic behind Hamilton, radioed his McLaren engineer Will Joseph with a blunt assessment: "The medium looks s—, so I kind of don’t want to get off this [soft] tyre yet." His comment summed up Ferrari's miscalculation. While other leaders eventually switched to mediums, they had the advantage of a unified strategy, unlike Hamilton, who lost the edge of the softer compound by pitting too soon.

Fred Vasseur, Ferrari's team principal, conceded that the team was in a difficult position, lacking data on the medium tyres due to limited practice sessions and a wet Sprint. Vasseur explained to Sky Sports F1 that both Ferrari and their rivals faced a 'blind' start, with decisions made on a 50/50 basis. "We were expecting to do the long stint during the Sprint race, but the Sprint race was [run on] intermediates," he noted. Despite this, Vasseur acknowledged that the soft tyres outperformed the mediums on race day, leading to Hamilton's early struggles.

In hindsight, Ferrari's gamble wasn't worth the risk. Aiming for a win that required overtaking Verstappen at the start, they put a potential double podium in jeopardy. While Hamilton's input played a role, the misjudgment in risk versus reward was evident. It was a strategic misstep that Norris, among others, could clearly see from behind.