Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari’s decision to start him on slick tyres at Sepang denied him a realistic opportunity to challenge for victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, with previously unheard radio messages showing that he repeatedly warned the team about how wet the circuit remained. Despite dropping as low as 17th and more than a minute behind the lead, the seven-time world champion eventually recovered to the podium.
The race had already been delayed twice before it finally began, first because of a thunderstorm and then following software problems. Ferrari nevertheless committed the Briton to slick tyres when racing resumed, believing the track would dry quickly in the Malaysian heat. That prediction proved costly as Intermediate tyres immediately emerged as the stronger choice.
Lewis Hamilton warned Ferrari that Sepang was still too wet
Lewis Hamilton had qualified second and entered the race with considerable confidence in the SF-26. When he saw that Max Verstappen was using Intermediate tyres, however, he alerted race engineer Carlo Santi to the different choice. Santi responded that Ferrari had looked at the Safety Car onboard footage and believed the circuit appeared dry, adding that Hamilton would be able to judge the conditions once he reached the track himself.
The British driver’s concerns increased almost immediately. Once running behind the Safety Car, Hamilton repeatedly reported that the surface remained extremely wet and warned that keeping the car on slick tyres would be very difficult.
Carlo Santi instructed him to focus on surviving the opening phase because Ferrari expected the circuit to dry rapidly. That assumption did not materialise as quickly as anticipated. George Russell also reported over the radio that the asphalt was drying unusually slowly despite the high temperatures.
The uncertainty surrounding the crossover between wet-weather and dry-weather compounds had been one of the central strategic questions at Sepang, where the tyre allocation and circuit characteristics had already made Ferrari’s tyre behaviour a major focus heading into the weekend.
Ferrari misses early chance to abandon slick strategy
Hamilton never explicitly asked Ferrari to bring him into the pits during those early exchanges, but the team still had an opportunity to abandon the slick strategy before the green flag. Several other drivers who had initially chosen dry-weather tyres quickly changed approach once the conditions became clear.
Ferrari eventually recommended switching tyres, but by that stage Hamilton had already lost substantial ground. Rather than accept another delay, he insisted on remaining on track and committing to the original gamble.
A Safety Car caused by Valtteri Bottas becoming beached in the gravel then compressed the field and transformed the situation. Hamilton was able to recover through the pack as the circuit finally dried, using the pace of the SF-26 to climb back into contention.
Lewis Hamilton believes victory fight was possible
Asked after the race whether a different starting tyre could have put victory within reach, Lewis Hamilton was clear that he believed it could have. He described having mixed emotions: gratitude at recovering to the podium, but disappointment because the pre-race debate over tyres had ended with Ferrari choosing slicks while rivals ahead were preparing wet-weather rubber.
Seeing those tyre covers removed made Hamilton realise how difficult the opening phase was likely to become. Once the race started and the surface proved as wet as he had feared, he felt his opportunity had effectively been compromised.
The pace of the recovery only reinforced that sense of a missed opportunity. Hamilton found it considerably easier to progress through the field than the McLaren drivers or Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, while Max Verstappen controlled the race at the front. The complete story of Hamilton’s Ferrari season can be followed in our dedicated Lewis Hamilton coverage.
His late pass on Isack Hadjar secured his first podium since the British Grand Prix, completing a remarkable recovery from the damage caused by the opening strategy. The result still represented a major salvage operation, but Hamilton was left believing a second Ferrari victory had been possible had the initial tyre decision gone differently.
For the Italian side, the episode will inevitably place further attention on how the team evaluates fast-changing conditions and reacts when driver feedback conflicts with expectations from the pit wall. More detailed coverage of the SF-26 and the team’s development can be found in the Ferrari technical analysis section.
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