Ferrari is back on the Formula 1 podium after a complicated Sunday at Sepang, with Lewis Hamilton recovering to third place after an opening tyre decision threatened to ruin the team’s Malaysian weekend. After five Grands Prix without a top-three finish, the result provided welcome relief for Maranello and ended a race that, despite the mistakes, also delivered encouraging signs about the performance of the SF-26.
The first major decision of the day was also the one that came closest to costing Ferrari dearly. On a circuit that was still damp, Ferrari and McLaren chose to start on slick tyres, while Red Bull and Mercedes opted for intermediates. It took barely half a lap for the correct choice to become clear. Max Verstappen and the Mercedes cars disappeared into the distance while both Ferraris fell towards the back of the field.
After eight laps, Charles Leclerc was running 16th and Lewis Hamilton 18th, more than a minute behind Max Verstappen. At that stage, Ferrari’s Sunday already appeared to have fallen apart.
Frédéric Vasseur admits Ferrari made the wrong tyre call
Frédéric Vasseur acknowledged that Ferrari needed to be clear-headed about the decision and accept that it had not been the correct one. “We have to be lucid and recognise that it wasn’t the right choice,” the Ferrari team principal admitted. “It would have been much better to start on intermediates. We decided with the information we had, thinking that the track would dry quickly. The time needed for a pit stop, around 26 seconds, also played a role, but in the end it is clear that the correct choice would have been another one.”
The uncertainty surrounding the Sepang conditions made tyre behaviour one of the central themes of the race, after it had already been a major talking point in the build-up to the weekend. The different compound sequences can also be examined through the ScuderiaFans F1 Tyre & Stint Analysis.
Safety Car gives Ferrari a second chance
Ferrari was suddenly brought back into contention when the Safety Car appeared on lap nine. The neutralisation proved invaluable, effectively erasing the enormous deficit accumulated during the opening laps.
Charles Leclerc took the opportunity to switch to intermediates, while Lewis Hamilton instead trusted his own instincts. The Ferrari pit wall informed the seven-time world champion that the team was ready to receive him, but he told race engineer Carlo Santi that he wanted to continue on the set of soft tyres fitted at the start.
That decision transformed Lewis Hamilton’s race. By staying on track, the British driver gained six positions and, once racing resumed, began to benefit from remaining on dry-weather tyres.
Frédéric Vasseur explained that Ferrari had deliberately allowed Lewis Hamilton to make the final call. “We gave him the possibility to decide,” the French manager said. “In these situations, it is the driver who is in the car. When we tell him that we are ready, it means that he can stop if he believes that is the correct choice.”
Lewis Hamilton builds his Sepang comeback
The recovery was not entirely straightforward. Because Lewis Hamilton had not started on intermediates, he still needed to use another compound after the soft tyres and subsequently switched to mediums. That tyre did not prove particularly effective, and although the Ferrari driver closed in on Isack Hadjar, he was unable to find a way past.
The situation changed again when a second Safety Car was deployed on lap 43. Lewis Hamilton fitted a fresh set of soft tyres and, immediately after the restart, managed to pass the Red Bull.
It developed into an excellent drive from the seven-time world champion: seven overtakes, strong tyre management and, above all, the clarity required to take advantage of the opportunities created by such a chaotic race. His comeback initially carried him into fourth place before George Russell’s retirement promoted him to third and secured Ferrari’s first podium in five Grands Prix.
Frédéric Vasseur praised the performance. “Lewis had a very good race,” the Ferrari team principal stressed. “When you are one minute behind the leader, you have to try something, you have to take risks. He managed the tyres very well and his pace remained competitive even at the end of the stints.”
The result offered another significant reference point in Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari season, particularly after the team had appeared completely out of contention during the opening phase of the race.
Charles Leclerc limits the damage after first-lap contact
Charles Leclerc endured a more difficult Sunday. Contact with Nico Hülkenberg on the opening lap added another complication to an already challenging situation and forced the Monegasque driver to replace his front wing.
Charles Leclerc was unable to perform at the same level as his team-mate and benefited considerably from the final Safety Car, which eliminated his deficit to Isack Hadjar and subsequently allowed him to overtake. Considering how badly the race had begun, the 12 points he eventually collected almost felt like a minor miracle.
Frédéric Vasseur defended his driver after the race. “Charles had contact on the first lap and we had to change the wing,” he explained. “I think he did his job. I certainly can’t blame him for contact when he is driving on slicks in those conditions.”
The weekend therefore produced sharply different races for Ferrari’s two drivers, with more coverage of the Monegasque’s campaign available in the Charles Leclerc section.
Could Ferrari have challenged Mercedes with the correct tyres?
The inevitable question is what Ferrari might have achieved had it started on intermediates. The Maranello team could have been in a position to fight Kimi Antonelli and probably put Mercedes under pressure, although the overall points haul would not necessarily have been dramatically different.
Victory, however, does not appear to have been genuinely within reach. Even removing the strategic errors and race incidents from the equation, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull appeared to have something extra.
The more important takeaway for Ferrari was the pace of the SF-26. The car had been competitive over a single lap and, once the consequences of the tyre choices were removed from the equation, its race rhythm was slower only than that of Max Verstappen. That represented a significant improvement after Ferrari’s more difficult recent weekends and strengthened the positive signals surrounding the car’s underlying performance.
SF-26 race pace gives Ferrari reason for confidence
Frédéric Vasseur confirmed the improvement but also cautioned that conditions had changed dramatically between practice and the race. “It’s true, the race pace was much better this weekend,” he said. “The conditions, however, were completely different. We did all the free practice sessions with around 60 degrees of track temperature and then the race with thirty degrees less. It was practically another track.”
The difference complicated tyre interpretation for everyone. After one of the restarts, the field was almost evenly divided between soft, medium and hard tyres, providing a perfect illustration of the uncertainty teams were facing on the pit wall.
Even with those complications, Ferrari’s competitiveness over the race distance was an encouraging development. It added substance to the performance gains seen from the SF-26 and provided another useful reference for ScuderiaFans’ broader Ferrari technical analysis.
Ferrari ends five-race podium drought at Sepang
Sepang ultimately gave Ferrari a far better result than seemed possible after eight laps. Lewis Hamilton returned the team to the podium after five races without a top-three finish, while Ferrari also gained 17 points on McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship. Most importantly, the SF-26 once again looked competitive over a race distance.
It was not a perfect Sunday. Without the first Safety Car, the opening tyre mistake would probably have carried a very heavy cost, while the final neutralisation also helped both Ferrari drivers. But whenever the chaotic race created an opportunity, the team managed to take advantage of it, and Lewis Hamilton completed the recovery.
After five Grands Prix without a podium, Ferrari badly needed to interrupt its negative run. Sepang does not erase the problems of recent weeks, but it restores points and confidence while providing a performance level on which Maranello can build. Considering how the afternoon began, that is far from insignificant.
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