Lewis Hamilton reveals Ferrari change that backfired at crucial moment in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton was left to bemoan "another difficult Q3" for Ferrari after agonisingly missing out on pole once more at the 2026 F1 Singapore Grand Prix.

The 41-year-old - cheered on by girlfriend Kim Kardashian - was again looking a good bet to top the timesheets after looking strong in Q1 and Q2 at the Marina Bay circuit on Saturday.

But the seven-time world champion revealed that one tiny Ferrari change, made in a bid to extract that crucial last bit of performance, tipped his SF-26 "over the edge".

The result was a car that went from "amazing" to "snappy", and P3 on the grid behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen and his Maranello team-mate Charles Leclerc.

READ MORE: Kim Kardashian arrives at Singapore GP to support boyfriend Lewis Hamilton

'Another difficult Q3' for Hamilton and Ferrari

Hamilton, speaking to media after the Qualifying session, admitted: "Yeah, another difficult Q3. Congrats to Max, he did a great job. Yeah, we made some changes going into qualifying. The car was feeling so much better, and I really felt like she had more in her.

"So we were just pushing her more and more through the laps and through the sessions. Q1 and Q2 were awesome.

"We got to Q3 and snaps in Turn 1 and 3 put me two tenths down. The rest of the lap was good, and then the last lap, just again struggled with snapping."

Hamilton believes the SF-26 is a tricky customer - he and the team are always trying to find just how far they can push things with a car that is "on the knife point".

"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," he continued.

"I think I probably had it in the first two, but you have to look for the progress of the track, the grip coming up, and so you have to kind of react to that. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have. So it wasn't great enough for myself."

What changes did Ferrari make for Q3?

Asked to explain what had caused those Q3 issues, Hamilton responded: "I think it's just balance. The car felt good. I think my team, the engineers, did a fantastic job, as well as the mechanics, between the sessions.

"I think the car felt amazing in Q1 and Q2, and when I finished the laps, I was like, 'She's got more in her'. And the only way in order to try and extract that is to try and add wing. And in doing so, I think it just tipped it over the edge.

"It was only like one hole or something like that, but it was just on the knife point, and after that then the car was just snappy, and none of the laps in Q3 are any good.

"So, I'm grateful to be third, to be honest, given that those laps weren't very good."

Is fast Hamilton start the secret weapon?

With overtaking notoriously difficult in Singapore (11 of the 16 previous races there have been won by the pole sitter), Hamilton is now left clutching at straws to find hope for Sunday's showdown.

Would his terrific start in Saturday's Sprint race (up from sixth into third before eventually finishing P2) provide encouragement, given it's an area where Verstappen and Red Bull have struggled at times? Hamilton explained: "I mean, the right side is hopefully a little bit better to start on. It's obviously a short start, so the start that I had was obviously in the wet [in the Sprint], so it's much different when it's dry. And I think tomorrow is dry."

The other hope for Hamilton and his team is that he and team-mate Leclerc can work together to put pressure on the mighty Dutchman.

"It'd be very hard for us to beat Max tomorrow, but there's two Ferraris there, and I think we can hopefully, you know, there might be opportunities for us to work together to try and apply the pressure.

"They're very, very quick, but I think we have the car in a good place that hopefully we can at least hold on."

Red Bull are really back after 'fantastic job'

Hamilton also had high praise for Red Bull, who have emerged from early-season struggles to roar back into race-winning form. Verstappen claimed his first victory of 2026 at the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend, and followed up by winning the Sprint in Singapore on Saturday. "I think Red Bull have done a fantastic job. You know, they've done a great job with their engine, but I think also with their car," he admitted.

"It's obviously a great team, and I think they brought an upgrade in Baku which has really put them at the front.

"And I think it's really still a good result for us to have two Ferraris up there. We could definitely hopefully work as a team tomorrow to try and hold on to Max and put him under pressure. I think that's the only way it's going to be.

"I'm sure he's going to be fast, but hopefully together as a team we can potentially, who knows? We'll see if we get ahead of him."

Sunday's 62-lap race gets under way at 8pm local time (1pm BST in the UK) and it will be streamed live by Sky Sports F1 with Channel 4 showing free-to-air highlights later in the day.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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