Lewis Hamilton will start the Singapore Grand Prix in third place behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
The seven-time world champion revealed his expectations for the race given Mercedes’ recent struggles after the summer break. Mercedes had some issues with their car after the calendar resumed after the summer break.
Before the break, the team had managed to win three of the final four races. The team’s only previous podium finish was with George Russell in Baku.
Hamilton wants to beat Verstappen and Norris
When asked after qualifying what his expectations were for the race, Hamilton said, “It’s very difficult to say, because the last day and a half has been a nightmare.”
I think our long-run pace was nowhere near theirs, at least the McLarens, but now we’ve put the car in a very different window, so we have to expect a different balance tomorrow compared to the other sessions so far.”
The Briton added: “I think it’s really about managing the tyre temperature here, so that’s going to be key tomorrow. Basically, we’ll do everything we can to keep the temperature down on the rear.
Hopefully we can somehow hold off at least one of them in that attempt.” We will discover tomorrow. I’m sure we can do it. “