Fred Vasseur launched a passionate but calm defence of Ferrari’s strategy after Lewis Hamilton decided to go a different route at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP.
From P2 and P3 on the grid, the Italian team decided to split the tyre selection. Leclerc went off on softs, with Hamilton on mediums.
It quickly became clear the red sidewall tyre was superior. The seven-time World Champion was over 10s behind race leader Max Verstappen by the end of Lap 17.
Having boxed at the end of Lap 18 for softs, the 106-time race winner was pumping in fast laps. Once Charles Leclerc pitted six tours later, they were together on track. While Hamilton did lose time on Lap 25 when the Monegasque driver was on his out lap, from there the driver of car #16 was immediately posting times that were as fast or faster than what car #44 had been doing in clean air.
The big problem occurred on Lap 39. Ferrari asked both drivers to box under the VSC caused by Lance Stroll pulling off after Turn 15. Leclerc did and went back to softs, Hamilton did not and stayed out. He faced a 44-lap stint to get to the end.
In the final stages, the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya race winner was passed by his teammate, Kimi Antonelli and the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri to fall to 6th at the flag.
Fred Vasseur on the split tyre call for the start of 2026 F1 Singapore GP
Speaking in a print media session post-race as the vast majority of questions were about Hamilton’s strategy, he explained the decision to start one car on softs and one on mediums.
As it was a Sprint weekend and rain hit the Sprint Race, all teams had no long run data on softs or mediums.
“I think the strategy was, at first the tyre choice was difficult.
“We did FP1 with hard, everybody, and we were all blind between medium and soft. It’s why on the grid you had 50-50.
“And we took the decision to split the cars, I think it was the good approach for to try to fight with Max.
“But the medium was poor compared to the soft today, that it was true on all cars, but I think it was true for everybody. We decided to pit quite early, to change the direction, to get rid of the medium.”
How they were attacking the race
When asked if the plan was for Leclerc to go 100% on the attack to pile the pressure on Verstappen and then have Hamilton on the medium to launch his own attacks later, Vasseur revealed the flexibility Ferrari had planned for in the 2026 F1 Singapore GP.
“No, honestly we had the two options open from the beginning, to have a two-stop, one-stop, because we had no clue about the degradation.
“This kind of weekend, when you have the Sprint, it can be mega safe, because it’s the best option to do a long stint on the Sprint with medium or soft. You have a very good read of the tyres, but when the sprint is with inter, it’s much more difficult.
“I think everybody was a bit in a corner, but we reacted very well during the race. I think the strategy was good, that when we asked them to swap, they swapped very quickly.”
Not swapping the cars
The Frenchman was then pushed on why Hamilton and Leclerc did not swap once the Monegasque rejoined on mediums, just ahead of his teammate on softs.
“Because after two laps, he was two seconds behind.”
When it was put to him that the British driver said he backed off, the Ferrari Team Principal outlined the tyre life advantage the 28-year-old had.
“No, but the tyre advantage was for Charles, that he pitted six laps later, and I think it was the right call.”
Vasseur discusses why Hamilton did not pit under the VSC at 2026 F1 Singapore GP
The next topic was whether both cars would have gone to the end if the VSC did not appear.
“Charles, yes, and Lewis was a bit in danger.”
Once he was asked about why Hamilton did not box under the VSC on Lap 39, Vasseur explained that the Brit made his own call to stay out. He had received a radio message — unheard on the onboard for all the viewers because of a glitch — from race engineer Carlo Santi to pit.
“We asked him to pit. Don’t blame the team, guys.
“Clearly on the radio, he said, ‘I apologise, I let you down, that it was my call.’
“He decided not to stop behind the VSC, but we would have been P2-P3.”
In the end, the 58-year-old brought out the facts one more when a journalist said he was trying to establish what happened.
“Establish what is very clear, we were P2, P3 on track. We called two cars, ‘guys, you pit behind the VSC’. One of my guys said, ‘no, I prefer to stay on track.’ He said, ‘I missed the pit entry.’
“Don’t blame the team.”
More attempts from Ferrari to get Hamilton to pit followed
Further radio messages between Santi and Hamilton on Laps 43 and 44 proved that they wanted the 41-year-old to box. At that stage he was in the 1:37s, with Leclerc, Norris, Antonelli and Piastri in the 1:35s and 1:36s.
His engineer made it clear he was going to drop to 5th if he boxed, although it would have put him comfortably in front of the Australian and allowed Hamilton to try and catch the Brit and Italian. Norris was on the slower medium tyres for his second stint as well.
Lap 43
Santi: We are on Plan B [two-stop]. We are getting close. We’re getting close, flap update.
Hamilton: Can I not just hold it out?
Santi: Coming back to you.
Lap 44
Santi: And we are six laps short to do Plan C [one-stop].
Hamilton: Can I hold position? Like, if I pit, what do I lose?
Santi: We are losing two positions [but] with a delta pace advantage.
Hamilton: Well, if we’re already losing two positions, should I wait to see if a VSC or something comes out?
Santi: We can try.
Hamilton takes responsibility
As well as his post-race radio message yesterday to apologise to the team and admitting to his error, the 41-year-old took to Instagram on Monday to hold his hands up once more.
“Yesterday wasn’t the result we were looking for, and that’s on me. At a track that’s difficult to overtake you need to try something different, and I chose a strategy that ultimately didn’t deliver. It’s a painful lesson to learn, but I take full responsibility for the decisions I made. In this sport, not every call will work out. It’s about accepting when you get it wrong and how you move forward. I’m grateful to the team for the work they put in every weekend. P6 doesn’t reflect the pace we had in the car, and despite the result there are positives to take away. Massive thanks to the fans in Singapore for the energy. I’ll continue to put the work in and come back fighting at the next race.”
Fred Vasseur’s strong defence of what happened at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP is completely justified
What has become clear since yesterday evening in Singapore, Lewis Hamilton cost himself and his team seven points with his decision to stay out. An easy P2 and P3 turned into P2 and P6. It was a very poor call from the seven-time World Champion.
There is no question Ferrari have made strategy mistakes this season. They did not change to inters at the end of the formation lap in Malaysia, not swapping the cars in Zandvoort when Hamilton had a big tyre delta and a pace advantage because of it.
However, the driver behind the wheel of car #44 is wholly responsible for yesterday’s events. Carlo Santi could have been more assertive on the radio about what would happen if he stayed out, a bit like with Peter Bonnington to Hamilton at Sochi in 2021. Ultimately, though, the team or engineer cannot force a driver to box for tyres if they do not want to.
Fred Vasseur made it clear twice not to blame the team for it, and he was right to do so. Ferrari got all the calls right on Sunday.
