Ferrari crew principal Frederic Vasseur has revealed that Lewis Hamilton was pressured to handle brake points from the beginning of the Singapore Grand Prix however denied the scenario posed any security danger.
Hamilton was chasing Kimi Antonelli within the battle for fifth place earlier than struggling a brake problem within the closing laps.
The issue meant Hamilton misplaced over 40 seconds of race time and got here underneath menace from Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton lower a number of corners on the ultimate lap as he tried to remain forward of Alonso whereas battling the brake problem.
After the race, Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty, dropping him from seventh to eighth.
Talking to reporters after the race in Singapore, Vasseur insisted Hamilton’s automotive was nonetheless on the “secure facet”.
“By way of security, sure, as a result of we tailored the tempo,” Vasseur stated. “It’s not that Lewis was pushing like hell within the final lap, however he was 30 seconds slower.
“By way of security, it was on the secure facet, however not the goal. The goal is to be secure, however the goal is to not be secure.”
Race-long drawback for Ferrari
Ferrari have suffered brake woes for a lot of the season.
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have typically been instructed to “raise and coast”.
Hamilton dropped to P8 after a penalty
Singapore was no totally different, with each drivers ordered to take action from as early as Lap 8.
“It is going to be tough to begin with the optimistic,” Vasseur defined. “Sure, we had been hitting not from lap one, however from lap two or three.
“And we needed to do a raise and coast for the race, however even for them on the finish it’s not simple to drive, as a result of you need to adapt your braking level every lap.
“Clearly, after we pushed a few laps with Lewis, I believe the tempo was first rate. However you may’t do 95% of the race on the again foot.”
It was one other poor weekend for Ferrari, as they had been comprehensively outperformed by Mercedes, Pink Bull and McLaren.
Vasseur feels that with out the brake administration, Ferrari’s tempo “was not dangerous”.
“Everyone knows that in Singapore, if you end up in the midst of the pack, it’s important for the brakes … however nonetheless it was not anticipated at this level,” he added.
Talking of Hamilton’s quickest lap on the softs, he stated: “No, as a result of we put a set of soppy on the finish. It’s a pretend quickest lap for me, that we’re not in the identical scenario.
“I can say that when he was pushing, the tempo was there, and the hole with the vehicles in entrance of him was coherent with the delta that you’ve on the tyres, however nothing greater than this.
“It’s additionally irritating for us, as a result of we had the sensation that after we did three laps in a row with out saving, that the tempo was not dangerous.”
