‘Like a switch’ - Lewis Hamilton hails Mercedes turnaround after nightmare practice

Lewis Hamilton has hailed Mercedes’ turnaround at the F1 Singapore Grand Prix following a “nightmare” run of practice sessions, describing the change of fortunes to a “switch”.

Hamilton qualified third on the grid for Sunday’s race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, beating Mercedes teammate George Russell in qualifying for just the fifth time this year.

The seven-time world champion’s revived form in qualifying came as a surprise after struggling for pace in all three practice sessions.

After Friday practice, Hamilton questioned whether making Q3 would even be possible given their struggles.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the session, Hamilton was in a talkative mood, reflecting on his own struggles this year.

“On my side, qualifying has been a nightmare for a year or so, or at least this year. It’s been something I’ve really been working on,” Hamilton said. “There’s definitely been a lot of work I’ve had to do mentally to try and hold onto it, continuing to believe.

“The races have been strong. Generally through the year I race well but I make it so much harder when you don’t qualify well. This weekend, we came in positive but the car was a nightmare to drive in P1. We were a second off. We made massive changes from P2, still a second off.

“Great work from the guys in the simulator last night, came with all this optimism from the simulator. We felt all positive. P3, nightmare, went out there and was 1.2 seconds off.

“The mechanics have been working so hard, changing all these bits. They don’t know what’s coming next. Start qualifying and finally the car… just a switch. All of a sudden I felt the synergy and felt really competitive from the get-go. Unfortunate I think for the last lap but I really take it.”

Looking ahead to the race, Hamilton is hopeful he can challenge the the top two of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

Hamilton finished third in last year’s race at Singapore, benefitting from a late crash for Russell on the last lap.

“I think with all the changes we’ve made it’s difficult to know where we will be in the race,” he added. “The car is in a better place. I hope that we can position it better with aero tomorrow for good long run progress. If we can hold onto these guys anything can happen at this track.

“Tyre degradation is going to be key. I think the McLaren is too fast with their wing moving, front wing moving, rear wing moving, they’re lighting at the moment. I think that’s going to be hard to beat.

“I will stay hopeful and give it everything. We’ve seen these two at the start of the race, and in races, anything can happen. We’ll just try to make sure I am there to capitalise.”