Hamilton says car snaps cost him two tenths in Singapore Q3

Lewis Hamilton said snaps at Turns 1 and 3 left him two tenths down in Q3 at the Singapore Grand Prix. He qualified third behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, and said he struggled with snapping again on his final lap.

Ferrari had made changes before qualifying, Hamilton said, and the car felt much better; he described Q1 and Q2 as excellent. He said the rest of the Q3 lap in which he lost those two tenths was good.

Hamilton described a fine line between being under the limit and going over the edge, and said finding the right balance was difficult. As grip increased, he had to adjust to the changing track, he said. In hindsight, he wondered whether he should have handled that adjustment differently and judged his own performance not good enough.

For Sunday's race, Hamilton hoped Ferrari could work together to stay with Verstappen and put Red Bull under pressure. He expected the Red Bull driver to be fast.