Hamilton apologises to Ferrari as Antonelli moves to brink of title

Lewis Hamilton apologised to his Ferrari team after overriding the pit wall and choosing his own strategy during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Ferrari were on course to finish second and third with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton, but instead the seven-time champion fell back to sixth in the closing laps as he fought a losing battle to hold off three cars while on fading tyres.

Hamilton apologised to the team over the radio on the slowing-down lap after the race, saying: "Sorry, boys. I let you down today with that strategy. My call, and I lost us valuable points. I'll try and make up for it in the next one."

Team principal Frederic Vasseur said: "Clearly we asked them to pit. Charles pitted. Lewis didn't want to pit because he... I don't know why. And then he realised it was the wrong call. It's why he apologised to the team.

"Now it's not a drama for me that he made the wrong call. I'm making mistakes, he's making mistakes, we're all making mistakes sometimes. Now we have to look ahead and make mistakes positively."

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Hamilton did not speak to the media after the race after saying he felt unwell and being given permission to miss the interview zone, known as the media pen.

In a statement released by Ferrari, he said: "Under the virtual safety car, the team called me in but I missed the entry. After that, I decided to stay out and try to hold track position to the end but in the closing laps, I was struggling massively with tyre degradation and lost three places, finishing P6, which doesn't reflect the pace we had in the car.

"A painful lesson, but I take full responsibility for the decisions I made. Not every call will work out, and I can accept getting it wrong but I'm sorry for the team for the points we lost today. They put so much into every weekend, and I wanted to deliver more for them. I'll continue to put the work in and come back fighting at the next race."

Ferrari called both cars in to the pits during a virtual safety car that was called mid-race. Stopping under the VSC saves about 10 seconds versus stopping under racing conditions.

Hamilton said in the statement that his decision was based on his improved pace on the soft-compound tyre after he had been forced to make an earlier pit stop than planned because the medium tyre on which he started the race was not performing.

"At a track (where it's) difficult to overtake, you need to try something different and I chose to start on a new medium tyre, to go long and try to make a one-stop work," he said.

"Unfortunately the medium didn't perform as well as the soft. I had a good second stint and the pace was back, but I couldn't make the progress I needed."

His first stop was six laps before Leclerc's and when the Monegasque emerged back on to the track, Hamilton was right behind him and was initially faster.

At one stage, he pointed out to the team that he had "lost two seconds on that lap", but the team decided not to invert the cars. Hamilton followed Leclerc within two seconds for a further 10 laps before slowly starting to lose ground a couple of laps before the VSC.

Vasseur said the team decided to leave Leclerc in front because he had pitted later than Hamilton.

"The tyre advantage was for Charles, that he pitted six laps later," Vasseur said. "I think it was the right call."

However, that argument appears to be somewhat undermined by the fact that the medium tyre emerged as the worst option for the race - as Hamilton had found out in the first stint and other drivers found later on.

Leclerc was put back on the soft when he stopped under the VSC.

Antonelli knows title is 'very close'

Hamilton's error means Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli is in a position to clinch his first world title at the next race, the US Grand Prix in Austin, after finishing third behind race winner Max Verstappen and Leclerc.

Antonelli's lead over team-mate George Russell, who finished ninth after starting from the back of the grid, has extended to 102 points and 111 over Hamilton.

The Italian needs to leave Austin with an advantage of at least 125 points to clinch the title, with five races at most remaining after that.

He will do so if he wins the race with Russell finishing ninth or lower and Hamilton fifth or lower at the Circuit of the Americas on 25 October.

If he becomes champion this year, the 20-year-old will be the youngest in Formula 1 history.