Lewis Hamilton admits blame after Ferrari error at Singapore Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has taken responsibility for what he called the 'wrong' decision on when to go out in sprint qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Some teams sent their drivers out relatively early in the eight-minute final segment to get a lap time banked and to give themselves the chance of a second flying lap, while some – including eventual polesitter Max Verstappen – waited until the last minute to go out and take advantage of a rapidly evolving track.

Hamilton, however, shot for the gap in the middle of those two things. He did get a clean lap, but missed out on the very best of the conditions and could only qualify sixth behind his team-mate, George Russell, both McLarens and Verstappen.

Just a day after explaining the 'collaborative' process which led to him being swayed onto the wrong tyre choice to start last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Hamilton has admitted that the run plan in Singapore was his idea.

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Hamilton: It was my choice, and we got it wrong

Speaking to the media after the session, the seven-time champion said: "We did a slightly different run plan to the others. It was my choice, and I think we got that wrong. But ultimately, just the car was very oversteering on that lap.

"I don't know if the rears were not ready or if they're overheating. It was difficult to say, but it was very, very snappy oversteering and just wasn't a good lap overall.

"The mediums was good. Yeah, just much different on the soft. Lots of grip, but only on the front and not the rear.

"Obviously, I had the pace in the first two sessions, and then all of a sudden, I just couldn't pull. I didn't have the grip on the rear for some reason on the last half of the lap, so is what it is."

Hamilton explains process which led to Sepang error

Speaking on Thursday, the Brit had said of last Sunday's tyre call: "It was ultimately a mistake but it's not the strategists. I think, unfortunately, my strategy team gets the brunt of the (criticism for the) call. But in actual fact, the call didn't come from the strategist. The call comes from collectively, us working together.

"Fred, Matteo, myself, my engineer, we make the decision together. And we discuss it and we put our input, we put all our ideas and information into the pot, whether that's good or not…

"I went into the pit lane, I'm like, 'it's wet'. I go to the pit wall, I'm like, 'it's wet'. Come back to the garage, I'm like, 'guys, we should be on the inters'.

"And then they all give a different perspective. And if you've got three people giving you a different perspective, you eventually get convinced by that. And you're like, 'OK, I'll go with what you suggest'. And that's how you work as a team.

"And you hope three are more right than one. But in some scenarios, it's the other way around. And you were right and your gut feeling was right. And then you're like, 'damn, I should have gone with my gut'. But everyone's generally trying to do the best they can."

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