Collins links Hamilton’s Singapore pit call to wider Ferrari trust issue

Bernie Collins sees Lewis Hamilton’s decision to stay out after Ferrari called him to pit at the Singapore Grand Prix as evidence of a wider lack of trust in the team’s strategy calls. The former F1 strategist and Sky Sports pundit linked it to a similar disagreement at the race in Malaysia a week earlier.

Hamilton had stopped on lap 19. On lap 40, a virtual safety car offered a cheaper opportunity for another stop after Lance Stroll stopped on track with a clutch problem. Ferrari called Hamilton in, but he stayed out in an attempt to make a one-stop strategy work. He struggled on the older tyres in the closing stages and finished sixth.

On the Sky Sports F1 Show, Collins argued Hamilton was unlikely simply to have forgotten: “Someone of Lewis's stature doesn't forget to do a pitstop.” She suggested he may have chosen not to take the pit entry, or that the call did not come in time; she called the moment crucial to the race.

Collins also recalled a similar exchange at the race in Malaysia a week before Singapore. Hamilton was on a dry tyre when Ferrari called for a switch to an intermediate, but he argued against the change and stayed on the tyre he had. Collins said his late-race situation ultimately resembled Leclerc’s. After the Singapore race, Hamilton apologised to the team and confirmed that staying out had been his call.