Lewis Hamilton insists he had no choice other than to cut several corners after a brake failed during the final laps of the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver suffered a front-left brake failure during the closing stages of the race. He slowed dramatically, which allowed Fernando Alonso to catch him.

Hamilton began cutting the insides of corners at multiple points around the track. He went off at turns two, five, 16 and 17, which helped him save enough time to beat Alonso to the chequered flag by less than half a second.

When Hamilton’s race engineer Ricardo Adami urged him to stop leaving the track, Hamilton replied: “I’m not trying to cut the course, mate.” After the race he asked: “Surely there’s no penalty when it’s force majeure?”

Transcript: Ferrari warned Hamilton not to cut corners. He claimed it was “force majeure”

However the stewards did not agree he had no alternative to cutting the course. They penalised him five seconds for leaving the track repeatedly, which relegated him to eighth place behind Alonso in the final classification.

The stewards said Hamilton’s brake problem was “not a justifiable reason” for repeatedly leaving the track and that this was “not contested by the team representative nor the driver.” But speaking ahead of this weekend’s race, Hamilton repeated his view that cutting the track was his only option.

“The last few laps were definitely nerve-wracking,” he said. “I’ve finished races before with three tyres and now I’ve finished one with three brakes. It’s not something I want to experience again.”

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Hamilton characterised his track limits breaches as being necessary because he was unable to slow sufficiently for the corners, meaning he had to use the exit roads. Although he did run wide at turn one at one point, he cut the insides of turns five and 17 once as well as turn 16 twice.

“The pedal just went straight to the floor,” Hamilton explained. “So I had no choice but to go onto those exit roads – I wouldn’t have made the corner otherwise.”

However he did not dispute the stewards’ decision. “The FIA penalty was fine,” he said. “It doesn’t really make a big difference to me anyway.”

Before the penalty was issued, Alonso reacted furiously to Hamilton reaching the finishing line before him. He repeatedly exclaimed “I don’t fucking believe it,” on his radio.

Hamilton mocked Alonso’s reaction in a social media post, likening it to a British comedy character with a similar catchphrase. “It was just a bit of fun,” he said. “It reminded me of that show – I hadn’t seen it in 20-plus years. I thought it was funny, so I posted it. What is life if you can’t have a little fun?”

Alonso said he was “happy with the penalty” the stewards gave Hamilton. “I gained the position. Even one second was enough – [it was] not needed, the extra four.”

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