‘Really unfortunate’ – Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton counts cost of mistakes at Singapore Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton was disappointed to come away with ninth place at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.

The seven-time world champion started in third place after a decent showing in qualifying but a lock-up at Turn 7 and a late mistake combined to give him an underwhelming finish.

Hamilton has failed to win a Grand Prix this season after struggling with his Mercedes. The car suffered a pronounced problem with the ‘porpoising’ phenomenon after all car designs were fundamentally overhauled between seasons.

While those problems have been mitigated by upgrades to the design and a change in rules to reduce the difficulty for all teams, the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and George Russell have struggled to match the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bull teams all year.

“I think we started off with a pretty decent weekend and were just really, really unfortunate at the end,” Hamilton said to Sky Sports.

“It was difficult to overtake and that lock-up into Turn 7 – when those things happen your heart sinks a little bit.

“But you get back up again and you try. It wasn’t the greatest day, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

“It all went out the window when I locked up, so my apologies to the team, but we live and learn, and I’ll recover.”

There is no rest for the F1 paddock as they travel to the Suzuka circuit for the Japanese GP next weekend, in a race that could see Max Verstappen wrap up the title.