Fred Vasseur rejects safety concern as Lewis Hamilton nurses failed brakes in Singapore GP

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has said Lewis Hamilton’s Singapore Grand Prix was compromised from the opening laps of the race as he struggled with a brake issue that forced the driver to lift and coast until the end of the race. Despite this, the seven-time world champion still managed to score the fastest lap of the Sunday.

“It will be difficult to start with the positive,” Vasseur began, before outlining how the problem showed its face almost immediately. “Yes, we were hitting not from lap one, but from lap two or three. And we had to do a lift and coast for the race, but even for them at the end it’s not easy to drive, because you have to adapt your braking point each lap.

“Clearly, when we pushed a couple of laps with Lewis, I think the pace was decent. But you can’t do 95% of the race on the back foot.”

The Frenchman admitted the failure was a surprise to the team, but placed the blame on the hot conditions at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, especially when you’re stuck in the dirty air of the car ahead.

“We all know that in Singapore, when you are in the middle of the pack, it’s critical for the brakes … but still it was not expected at this point.”

Hamilton has since received a five-second penalty for track limits after he was unable to keep his car within the white lines due to this brake failure. Fernando Alonso was notably annoyed as he watched Hamilton struggle, questioning how safe the car could be in that shape. Vasseur was quick to put this to rest as best he could.

“In terms of safety, yes, because we adapted the pace. It’s not that Lewis was pushing like hell in the last lap, but he was 30 seconds slower. In terms of safety, it was on the safe side, but not the target. The target is to be safe, but the target is not to be safe,” he laughed.

The Briton was able to set the fastest lap after pitting for soft tyres, but Vasseur didn’t let this raise his spirits. 

“No, because we put a set of soft at the end,” he said, calling it unrepresentative. “It’s a fake fastest lap for me, that we are not in the same situation. I can say that when he was pushing, the pace was there, and the gap with the cars in front of him was coherent with the delta that you have on the tyres, but nothing more than this.

“It’s also frustrating for us, because we had the feeling that when we did three laps in a row without saving, that the pace was not bad.”

With the aforementioned penalty, Hamilton finished his Singapore campaign in eighth with four points. 

Additional reporting by Sam Shephard.

Photos from Singapore GP – Race

We want your opinion!

– The Motorsport.com Team