Hamilton Repeatedly Urged Ferrari To Let Him Past Leclerc After “Hold Position” Order
After Leclerc emerged ahead of Hamilton from the first pit stops, Ferrari issued a “hold position” order. Hamilton repeatedly said over the radio he was quicker and asked to pass, but the team showed no interest in swapping places.
Lewis Hamilton repeatedly lobbied Ferrari to let him overtake his team mate Charles Leclerc after the pair made their first pit stops in the Singapore Grand Prix. Team radio transcripts published by RaceFans show the tension between Ferrari and Hamilton during one of the key phases of the race.
The medium tyre did not work
Hamilton had started on the medium compound but did not have strong pace on it. From lap 15, he reported over the radio that the grip was dropping, that the rears were fading and that he could not go any faster. Ferrari, through race engineer Carlos Santi, moved from “Plan C” to “Plan B” and Hamilton pitted on lap 18 to switch to softs. Leclerc, who had started on softs, switched to mediums. As a result, the two Ferraris were running together after their first stops.
The “hold position” order
On lap 25, Leclerc emerged from the pits immediately ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari did not want its two drivers to lose time racing each other, and told Hamilton to hold position behind his team mate. The order cost Hamilton 1.8 seconds. As Leclerc worked to bring his mediums up to temperature, Hamilton lost more time and repeatedly asked to be let past.
Hamilton’s persistence
Hamilton first told the team he was quicker and needed to use that speed. He then said that if he could not pull away from Leclerc, he would happily let him back through. The team, however, focused on managing tyres and temperature in specific corners and showed no willingness to swap positions. Hamilton eventually agreed to back off.
“What’s the plan?”
On lap 32, now stuck close behind Leclerc, Hamilton asked the team what the goal and plan were. Santi said they were on Plan B. When Hamilton asked what others were doing, he was told that everyone else was on a one-stop and that Leclerc was currently on the same strategy. On lap 34, the team reported that Verstappen and both McLarens had just pitted and were probably going to the end.
On lap 36, Santi told Hamilton that Leclerc was trying to pick up the pace and was now on Plan C, while Hamilton was on Plan B. When Hamilton asked how fast the car ahead had been at the end of its run, he was told it was lapping at around 1:36.5 to 1:36.8. Hamilton pointed out that Leclerc had new tyres. Santi said the pace would be similar by the end of the race, but that for now the team did not think they had the tyre life.
Later in the race, Hamilton’s refusal of a pit call would drop him to sixth and lead to his post-race apology to Ferrari.