Hamilton rejected his engineer’s instruction to pit under the Virtual Safety Car and stayed out on worn softs. Lando Norris, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri all passed him in the closing stages. He finished sixth, 53 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen.
Palmer, writing in his column for Formula 1’s official website, saw a pattern.
“I wonder in Singapore how much of Lewis’ decision-making was because of his desire to do something different to his teammate in order to beat him.”
Leclerc had pitted onto mediums a lap earlier and finished second. Had Hamilton followed him in on the next lap, he would almost certainly have come out behind his teammate.
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Hamilton owned the decision on team radio after the chequered flag.
“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,” he told the Ferrari pit wall, according to Sky Sports.
‘Detrimental to their overall results’
Palmer did not stop at Singapore.
“It seems to me that the Ferrari duo are so keen to beat each other that, at times, it’s been detrimental to their overall results.”
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Hamilton leads Leclerc 9-8 in grand prix finishes through 17 rounds, with Leclerc edging the qualifying count by the same margin. Palmer’s suspicion is that the drivers’ private scoreboard is now shaping race-day calls.
“Frank conversations have been had since then, but I still wonder if this Singapore strategy call from Hamilton is another example of him showing a different kind of risk, in order to beat his teammate, without consideration of the bigger picture.”
Vasseur holding the line, for now
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has resisted imposing team orders through 2026, pointing to Oscar Piastri’s late-season collapse at McLaren last year as a reason not to pick a horse before the maths demand it. He has conceded that Ferrari may eventually have to favour one driver, but has described the current stage as premature.
That position is harder to hold after Singapore. Verstappen’s victory cut his gap to third-placed Hamilton to eight points and dropped Leclerc to fifth, 125 behind the leader. Andrea Kimi Antonelli tops the drivers’ standings on 340 points for Mercedes and could seal the title at the next round.
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That round is the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 25 October.
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