Lewis Hamilton points finger at Ferrari's operational execution

Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari must optimise sessions better after qualifying sixth at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton looked to be in the mix for the pole position fight in Singapore after topping Q1, but Ferrari’s competitiveness fell away when it mattered most.

Hamilton ultimately took sixth on the grid as he outqualified Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc for only the fifth time this year, however he ended up over half a second adrift of George Russell, who claimed a stunning pole.

The 40-year-old Briton urged Ferrari to make improvements to their weekend execution after another underwhelming qualifying showing.

"I've enjoyed it. I felt on it all weekend, I felt good in the car. We saw Q1 I felt really strong and thought, maybe silly me, we would be fighting for the top position,” Hamilton said.

"Just the way the plan goes and where we end up waiting in the pit lane, losing tyre temperature, using a tyre on the out lap then coming in, the temperature affect.

“All these things add up to not optimising the sessions. We have to do some work to optimise the sessions better.”

Asked how Ferrari can solve that, Hamilton replied: "We will talk in the background. Just have to have conversations about it and improve the process.

"Everyone is working as hard as they can, we just need to look at what the others are doing. Mercedes were out first, they didn't lose any tyre temperature and they were at the front.

“We were waiting, turning the car off at the end of the pit lane and lose five or six degrees which is hard to get back on an outlap.

"In Q3 I had nothing, just lost half a second in performance just from the tyres. That's frustrating but I will try my best tomorrow.”

What’s going wrong for Ferrari?

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur indicated some performance drop-off is linked directly to tyres and preparation.

“It was very up and down. We had a strong pace in FP1, even in the beginning of FP2,” he explained to Sky Sports F1.

“Q1 was okay today but then we lost a little bit the pace of everything. It’s true that it’s really on the edge for us. Not only for with us but with the tyres and with the preparation.

“Even the last lap of Charles we were in a good shape until the last sector and we lost everything in the last sector.

“Let’s refocus now on tomorrow and see what we can do. We will have opportunities for sure. The race will be long but it’s not so easy to overtake in Singapore.”

Jenson Button said his former teammate Hamilton should be buoyed after claiming a rare qualifying victory over Leclerc.

“One and a half tenths off a McLaren, normally they’d say that was pretty good for qualifying, but it’s because they have all the other cars that have sort of got into the mix here,” the 2009 world champion said.

“For Lewis, you’ve got to take the small victories at the moment. It’s been a tricky year for him so far, so for him to out qualify Charles, that’s a big deal and I think that’s important for him moving forward.”