Lewis Hamilton apologised to Ferrari after his strategy call proved costly at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion started the night race from third on the grid and was running in that position after a jostle with his team over not being allowed past team-mate Charles Leclerc.
While the Monegasque then pitted under a virtual safety car on lap 39, Hamilton chose to stay out on older soft tyres.
It proved a major misstep as first Leclerc stormed past him to reclaim second, before Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris also made their way through and Oscar Piastri dropped him down to sixth on the final lap.
Hamilton addressed his team on the radio following 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. Great job with the pit stop though.”
The 41-year-old was cheered on by girlfriend Kim Kardashian in Singapore, giving the US reality star a kiss as he exited the grid following the national anthem, but she looked on in anguish as he cut the corner at turn one and opened the door for Antonelli to march through.
Hamilton felt unwell after the race, with Ferrari confirming that he had been given permission by the FIA to skip post-race media duties.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur stressed that there was no blame on the team.
“We asked him (Hamilton) to pit. Don’t blame the team guys, clearly on the radio he apologised and said ‘it was my call’,” Vasseur said.
“He decided to not stop behind the VSC but we would have been P2 and P3.
“We were not sure we could go to the end so we chose to stop under VSC. There was a radio message, the driver has apologised that he let the team down.
“It was very clear. We were P2, P3 on track, we called two of our guys to pit behind the VSC, one of our guys said ‘no I prefer to stay on track’ or he missed pit entry.
“Don’t blame the team.”
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