07/10/2025 07:25
Despite receiving a five-second time penalty for repeated corner
cutting as he tried to limp his Ferrari home, Lewis Hamilton broke
an all-time F1 record in the Singapore Grand Prix. Running seventh
and with Ferrari locked into a tight fight with Mercedes and Red
Bull for second in the constructors', the Scuderia opted to pit
Hamilton to see if he could pass Kimi Antonelli and rescue more
precious points for the team, and deny them to Mercedes. Switching
to softs for a final blast, Hamilton carved great chunks of time
out of team-mate Charles Leclerc and Antonelli, nearly four seconds
per lap faster, as Leclerc waved him through, but just as he
latched onto the back of Antonelli, his brakes failed, leading him
to crawl home. He finished seventh on the road, but dropped to
eighth following the time penalty for corner cutting, with his
fastest lap of a 1:33.808 being unbeaten, with Pierre Gasly's
Alpine second-best. In setting the fastest lap, Hamilton did so for
the 16th consecutive season, having now done so in every season
since 2010 to break the joint record of 15 he held with Schumacher,
who did so between 1992 and 2006. Hamilton had actually set the
fastest lap during the Chinese GP to break the record in his second
race with the team, but this was expunged after he was disqualified
for plank wear, with Lando Norris inheriting the accolade. The
Briton already holds the record for the most seasons with a fastest
lap, now 18, having also picked at least one up in 2007 and 2008.
Only in 2009, in his first season as reigning world champion, did
Hamilton fail to set a fastest lap. In terms of overall rankings,
Schumacher's tally of 77 fastest laps remains unbeaten, with
Hamilton now moving to 68. During his final season with Mercedes
in 2024, Hamilton's fastest lap in Monaco also broke Schumacher's
record of 53 fastest laps with one team; with Hamilton eventually
ending on 55 with the Silver Arrows.
