Mercedes withdrew Lewis Hamilton and George Russell from their media commitments after they suffered “borderline heatstroke” in the Singapore GP.
The Singapore Grand Prix is one of the most brutal races on the Formula 1 calendar as the drivers have to contend with high temperatures and energy-sapping humidity levels.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell fell ill in Singapore
Despite being a night race, the 62 laps take it out of the drivers and this season it was the Mercedes team-mates who seemingly suffered the most.
Finishing fourth and sixth respectively with Russell ahead, neither Mercedes driver attended the obligatory post-race media commitments with Mercedes having requested medical exemptions.
A Mercedes spokesman confirmed their absence, saying: “Unfortunately neither George or Lewis will be attending the media pen this evening as they recover from the exertions of this evening’s race.”
But before too much could be made of Hamilton’s in-race radio messages to his race engineer Pete Bonnington, team boss Toto Wolff added: “They did not feel well, borderline heatstroke or something like that but they have had water. They would not have been able to go to the (media) pen.
“There were no bad feelings or any annoyance.
“It is just that we had the doctors with them. But they are all good.”
More on the Singapore GP
Having qualified up in third place with Russell fourth, Mercedes split the drivers’ strategies with Hamilton starting on the soft tyres and Russell on the mediums.
That meant the seven-time World Champion was one of the first to pit and wasn’t happy about it.
Hamilton: “Are we the first to stop before everyone?”
Bono: “We are one of the earlier stoppers, but not the earliest.”
Hamilton: “Yeah, we’re in trouble there. Way too short.”
He was not only beaten to the chequered flag by Russell but fell from third to sixth.
Hamilton, in Mercedes’ post-race press release, magnanimously said: “It is hard to describe the range of emotions you feel when we have a difficult race like that.
“This year continues to be a testing one for everyone, but we are all pushing as hard as we can. We don’t always get things right and that was the case today with our strategy.
“We all head into the weekend, and every decision we take, with the right intentions and sometimes it doesn’t work out. It can be frustrating, but we are all in this together.
“We have lost some form to the leaders in the past few races and we’re working hard to figure out why that is. We will do what we do best though and that is to come together as a team, analyse and refocus ahead of Austin.
“We will head there with energy, drive, and determination. It’s another opportunity to show what we can do when we get things right and to hopefully take a step forward with the car.”
As for Russell, he concedes Mercedes have a “lot of work to do in the coming weeks to understand why we’ve struggled to challenge at the front in the past few races. We haven’t been as competitive since the summer break and that is frustrating.
“We will work hard to get on top of it though and hopefully the updates we bring to the next race in Austin will help us take a step closer to the front.”
