Extent of Lewis Hamilton brake issues laid bare in tense Singapore GP radio
The full radio transcript of Lewis Hamilton's brake failure at the Singapore Grand Prix has been revealed.
Lewis Hamilton lost his brakes in the closing laps of the Singapore Grand Prix, leaving him hard-pressed to keep his SF-25 on the track and ultimately resulting in a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.
Now, Hamilton’s tense radio transmissions with Ferrari engineer Riccardo Adami have emerged, laying bare exactly how challenging those final laps were to complete.
Scary Lewis Hamilton brake failure messages revealed
In the final three laps of the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton radioed the team to let them know that his brakes were failing, preventing him from performing at pace as his gap to the cars behind was carved away.
Full radio transmissions from Hamilton’s scary final laps have emerged after the conclusion of the Singapore Grand Prix, and they paint a scary picture of the battle at hand.
Coming out of Turn 14 on lap 60 of 62, Hamilton radioed into his team to say, “Losing my brakes, mate.”
“OK, we suggest lift and coast,” came the reply from race engineer Riccardo Adami.
“Yeah, I’m losing big time,” Hamilton replied. As sparks skittered beneath his car two corners later, he replied, “I’ve lost my brakes, lost my left front.”
The failure came at a critical time, as Hamilton was being hounded by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Tension only grew from there, as Adami informed Hamilton on Lap 61, “Max as you can and engine braking as you are doing. Alonso 16 seconds behind, one more lap.”
But by the time Hamilton had gotten to Turn 6, Adami had more information: “Alonso 10 seconds behind.”
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Heading into Turn 6, Hamilton was told, “Alonso 10 seconds behind.”
And coming out of Turn 9, he was told, “Don’t cut the corners.”
“Ah, I’m not trying to cut corners, mate,” came the reply from the driver.
“Yeah, understood,” Adami replied. “Alonso five behind. Alonso 2.5 behind.”
“Just leave me to it, mate, just leave me to it!” Hamilton said, sounding quite stressed.
After crossing the line in seventh to signal the end of the race, the driver asked, “How many positions did I lose?”
“You will finish P9 because we got a five-second penalty for track limits,” Adami replied.
It’s worth noting here that the FIA had not yet issued a formal summons to No. 44 Ferrari team, nor had it officially instituted a penalty; however, the team likely understood very well at this point that a penalty was coming. Ultimately, Hamilton would be classified eighth.
“I can’t stop the car, man. The brakes don’t work. Pedal was to the floor,” Hamilton said. “Surely it’s not a penalty with the force majeure.
“First time I’ve had brake failure… that was definitely difficult. Sorry to lose the points, but… yeah. Nice try.”
Hamilton was duly summoned to the stewards, where he addressed his course cutting and raised the force majeure argument; however, the stewards did not believe this was a sufficient reason.
“During the hearing, the driver confirmed that he left the track at several occasions,” the stewards’ summary noted.
“He was trying to manage a brakes issue situation. This being said, after further investigation, and in accordance with the list of exemptions foreseen in the Driving Standards Guidelines, the Stewards considered that this was not a justifiable reason and apply the usual penalty for such type of infringement.
“This was not contested by the team representative nor the driver.”
He was deemed to have violated Article 33.3 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, which reads, “Drivers must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not leave the track without a justifiable reason.”
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