A noticeably disgruntled Lewis Hamilton believes that Mercedes could have 'easily' won the race in Singapore had the team listened to his instructions beforehand.
In a tight tactical battle early on, Hamilton had expressed his desire to undercut Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, but instead the Brit stayed out for another six laps after Leclerc had pitted.
As a result when Hamilton eventually came in he emerged behind both Ferraris and Max Verstappen, and remained there for the rest of the race, despite a late rally behind the Dutchman.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Hamilton could not hide his frustration and felt that under different circumstances, the race was there for him and his team.
He said: "I knew that we should have undercut. I knew it this morning in the brief. I said 'let's just take the risk', but they didn't.
"But we win and lose together as a team. We'll take this on the chin but it's painful for us I think because we clearly could have easily won today. It just didn't work out."
Hamilton is also wary of the developing threat of Ferrari, who have now won three races in a row for the first time since 2008, and both of their drivers are closing in, in both the drivers and constructors championships.
Hamilton added: "It feels like they are hungrier at the moment and we've got to step it up. We're still the best team, we've just got to stop dragging our feet and get on. We'll debrief, we'll rehuddle and we'll fight them in the next race."
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