Following a punishing 62-lap battle under the extreme heat and humidity of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Scuderia Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was completely absent from the mandatory post-race media pen.
A medical exemption
A Ferrari spokesperson has officially confirmed that the seven-time world champion required immediate medical attention after stepping out of the SF-26 cockpit.
"A Ferrari spokesperson says that Hamilton felt unwell after the race and was seen by the FIA medical team," Luke Smith reported. As a direct result of his physical condition, Hamilton was explicitly granted permission by the governing body to skip all of his standard post-race media obligations.
Online racing publication RacingNews365 also verified the Ferrari garage statement, noting that the intense physical rigours of the gruelling street circuit forced the veteran driver to be thoroughly checked over by track doctors.
The cost of a strategy error
The intense physical toll of the Singapore climate was massively compounded by a critical strategic blunder made directly by Hamilton mid-race. After actively ignoring a pit call from the Ferrari pitwall during a late virtual safety car period, Hamilton was forced to wrestle his car around the demanding layout on heavily degraded, older tyres.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
That severe lack of grip left him completely powerless to defend his track position in the closing stages of the grand prix. Hamilton violently plummeted down the running order, getting steamrolled by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli and both McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. After initially running comfortably in the podium places, he ultimately crossed the finish line in a highly disappointing sixth place.
Interestingly, this is not the first time the suffocating Marina Bay climate has physically broken the British driver. During the 2024 campaign, both Hamilton and his then-Mercedes team-mate George Russell also felt severely unwell following the chequered flag in Singapore.