MERCEDES admitted they blundered by starting Lewis Hamilton on soft tyres for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Hamilton blasted the team’s strategy after finishing sixth in Sunday’s race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit — despite starting third on the grid.
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Britain’s seven-time world champion had been the only driver in the top ten to start with his car on soft rubber.
And now Mercedes technical chief James Allison has confessed that their tyre choice for Hamilton was a “clear mistake” which “ruined his race”.
Speaking on Mercedes’ official YouTube channel, Allison confessed: “We should not have started on the softs, that was a mistake.
“If we could turn back time, we would do what those around us did and select the mediums.
“The soft tyre often allows you to get away from the start abruptly and allows you a good chance of jumping a place or two in the opening laps.
“We had no real expectation we were going to suffer the sort of difficulties we then experienced on the soft rubber.
“Lewis was left with a car that suffered poor tyre degradation and needed to pit early as a consequence.
“It really ruined his race for him. A clear mistake.”
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On top of that, both Hamilton and team-mate George Russell, 26, suffered from “borderline heatstroke” in the humid 30C heat.
Russell had lined up fourth on the Singapore grid behind Hamilton but started on the medium compound and finished fourth.
Hamilton, 39, was left raging over the different strategies, adding: “I was perplexed, it didn’t make sense.
“It is hard to describe the range of emotions you feel when we have a difficult race like that. But I was so angry and frustrated.”
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