Ferrari’s slick-tyre gamble failed, but a late pass saved P3
SEPANG, Malaysia – Lewis Hamilton started the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia from the front row and finished it on the podium, yet the hours between those two moments nearly unravelled Ferrari’s weekend.
A tyre gamble that dropped him to 18th, a storm that reshaped the afternoon and a late overtake on Isack Hadjar produced a third-place result that Hamilton himself called bittersweet.
A Race Displaced, Then Delayed
The venue alone made this event unusual. The Bahrain Grand Prix was originally due at the Bahrain International Circuit on 12 April, but it was removed from the April calendar after the outbreak of the 2026 Iran war.
The round was instead staged at the Sepang International Circuit, which last hosted a Grand Prix in 2017.
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Weather added a second layer of disruption. Heavy rain arrived about thirty minutes before the scheduled 3pm start and persisted for roughly an hour.
Behind the Safety Car, Hadjar slid into the gravel before rejoining, Lando Norris narrowly avoided a similar excursion, and several drivers, Hamilton among them, reported power delivery problems. Ferrari attributed Hamilton’s issue to a software fault, which the team cleared with a reset.
A Front-Row Start and a Costly Choice
Hamilton had qualified second, beside Max Verstappen on pole. A five-place grid penalty for Hadjar, who had exceeded his power unit allocation, dropped the Red Bull driver to eighth, which lifted Kimi Antonelli to third and Charles Leclerc to the second row.
For a Ferrari team without a podium in five races, the grid represented a genuine opening.
Ferrari, however, chose slick tyres for both cars on a surface that was drying but still too wet for them.
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Verstappen, Antonelli, George Russell and Hadjar started on intermediates, while Norris and Oscar Piastri joined the Ferrari pair on slicks.
The slicks were slow to warm and offered little grip. Hamilton slid from second to 18th and, at one stage, trailed the leaders by more than a minute.
The Recovery
Hamilton later said his heart sank as the plan failed, and the conditions gradually turned in his favour. As the circuit dried, slick tyres came into their own, and drivers who had started on them recovered time by changing strategy.
Leclerc made an additional early stop on his own road back. Safety Car periods then compressed the field and returned much of the time Hamilton had lost.
A further break arrived when Russell pulled over after the pit exit with a power unit problem before the final restart. It was a mechanical retirement rather than a crash, and it removed one car from Hamilton’s path to the podium.
With three laps remaining, Hamilton passed Hadjar for third place. Leclerc soon followed him through to take fourth, and Hadjar finished fifth.
Verstappen won by 2.307 seconds from Antonelli, with Hamilton 4.919 seconds behind the winner and Leclerc 7.258 seconds back. Piastri, Lawson and Alonso completed the top eight.
Verstappen’s Statement Win
Verstappen converted pole position into victory over 55 laps, claiming his first win of the season and Red Bull’s first of 2026. He also took the extra point for fastest lap.
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The result came nine years after his previous triumph in Malaysia in 2017, and it was reported as Ford’s first Formula 1 win since the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Reading the Gamble
Wet-to-dry calls are among the most asymmetric decisions in Formula 1. A slick-tyre start pays off only if the surface dries before the early deficit becomes unrecoverable.
Here the cost arrived immediately and severely, while the reward appeared only after the circuit dried and Safety Car periods erased the gaps. In that sense, the strategy was rescued by circumstance as much as by design.
This reading is our editorial analysis rather than a team statement.
Ferrari was not alone in the choice, since both McLaren cars also started on slicks, but Hamilton began on the front row and therefore carried the greatest exposure.
Without the neutralisations and Russell’s retirement, the same decision could have ended a long way from the podium.
Hamilton’s Verdict
Hamilton said he had not expected to recover to third and was very grateful for the result, though he regarded it as a missed opportunity. Having started alongside Verstappen, he felt he could have challenged for victory without the tyre decision.
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The Ferrari driver nonetheless appeared more comfortable in his car than in recent races, a development that matters as the championship moves into its closing rounds.
What It Means for Ferrari
The podium ends a five-race wait for Ferrari and offers a useful counterpoint to a weekend that began with a software scare and ended with a strategic misjudgement.
Leclerc’s fourth place means both cars scored heavily, which softens the cost of the early error in the standings.
The harder question for the team is process: the call was made despite the track still being visibly damp, and the recovery depended on conditions the team could not control.
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Expect scrutiny of how Ferrari weighs wet-weather risk when both cars are in contention for strong results.
For Hamilton, Sepang offered proof resilience still counts, even when strategy falls short.
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