Ferrari recovered from a disastrous start to finish the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang with Lewis Hamilton on the podium in third place and Charles Leclerc immediately behind in fourth. The result represented a major turnaround for the Maranello team, which had effectively compromised the opening phase of the race with an extremely risky tyre decision on a wet track before the true pace of the SF-26 emerged later in the afternoon.
Round 16 of the Formula 1 season began in extremely difficult conditions. Heavy rain and strong winds hit Sepang while the Safety Car continued circulating and itself appeared to be struggling to stay clear of the barriers. Race Control had little choice but to postpone the start.
Hybrid software problems delay the Bahrain GP start
When conditions appeared good enough for the cars to prepare for the start, a series of problems emerged involving the hybrid systems. In simple terms, several power units were not functioning correctly in the unusual conditions.
The red flag followed and the entire field returned to the pit lane. The underlying issue concerned the predictive software used to manage the power units. The systems automatically adjust energy harvesting and deployment according to how the car is operating, but the extreme weather conditions disrupted those calculations and the electronics were unable to manage the situation correctly. When the system could no longer handle the conditions, power was cut.
Ferrari was among those affected. Lewis Hamilton was forced to switch off his SF-26 and perform what is known as a “power cycle”, restarting the system before he could continue.
Even after the rain had stopped and the starting procedure could theoretically resume, the engineers needed additional time. The power units had to be reprogrammed and the information previously processed by the software had to be cleared before the cars could safely return to the circuit.
Once those issues had been resolved, at least in theory, the drivers climbed back into their cars and the engines were restarted. The circuit remained wet, however, and Ferrari’s decision to fit Soft slick tyres was immediately a major gamble.
Ferrari takes a major risk with Soft tyres
Tyres quickly became the central topic on the radio. Mercedes and Red Bull had opted for intermediates, while McLaren selected Medium slicks. Ferrari asked its drivers to remain patient for several laps, expecting the asphalt to dry sufficiently for the Soft compound to become effective.
The cars had already completed three laps behind the Safety Car, so the track surface had undoubtedly improved. It was still nowhere near dry enough.
When the grid formed for a standing start, Lewis Hamilton strongly disagreed with Ferrari’s strategy and believed it would take at least ten laps before the Soft tyres could work properly. Charles Leclerc shared the same assessment.
The start confirmed their concerns. Both Ferraris immediately fell towards the back of the field because the slick tyres simply could not generate enough performance on the damp surface.
Charles Leclerc was called into the pits, while Lewis Hamilton elected to remain on track and continue with the gamble. By lap six, Charles Leclerc was alone in 20th place, one minute and 15 seconds behind the leader. Lewis Hamilton was 17th and circulating approximately ten seconds per lap slower than drivers using intermediate tyres.
At that point, Ferrari’s race appeared almost completely compromised.
Ferrari comeback begins as the track dries
By lap ten, Lewis Hamilton finally started producing competitive lap times, confirming his earlier estimate that the Soft tyres would need time before becoming effective. A Safety Car was then triggered by a problem for Valtteri Bottas, giving much of the field an opportunity to stop and switch to dry-weather tyres.
Charles Leclerc also stopped, while Lewis Hamilton remained on track. Before the restart, the two Ferraris were running 15th and 17th respectively.
The situation changed rapidly once racing resumed. Lewis Hamilton gained three places immediately, while Charles Leclerc moved forward by one position. Over the following laps, the track continued to dry and the performance of the SF-26 became increasingly evident.
Ferrari now had the pace to launch a genuine recovery, although the huge amount of race time lost during the opening phase remained impossible to ignore. With hindsight, the obvious question was what the Scuderia might have achieved had it started on intermediate tyres rather than sacrificing more than a minute early in the race.
Lewis Hamilton needed four laps to pass Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and claim eighth place. He then overtook Arvid Lindblad and Esteban Ocon to reach sixth. The presence of trains of cars all able to use overboost made overtaking more difficult, but the Ferrari driver continued making progress and received repeated praise over the radio.
Ferrari then had to begin thinking about tyre preservation. Lewis Hamilton’s Soft tyres had already completed 22 laps, so he was asked to avoid pushing too aggressively under traction.
Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, finally passed Lando Norris and began chasing the group ahead containing Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri and Arvid Lindblad. The race was beginning to come back towards Ferrari, although the opening mistake continued to weigh heavily on its prospects.
Lewis Hamilton becomes the fastest driver on track
Lewis Hamilton passed Liam Lawson and began targeting fourth place, occupied by Isack Hadjar. On lap 25, Ferrari delivered its first tyre-phase update. The British driver responded positively over the radio: “The tyres are excellent and I feel good.”
At that stage of the race, Lewis Hamilton was actually the fastest driver on the circuit. Charles Leclerc was also pushing hard and had recovered to ninth, although his pace was not quite as strong as that of his teammate.
Charles Leclerc stopped again on lap 30 for another new set of Soft tyres and returned to the track in 12th place. Shortly afterwards, Lewis Hamilton reported that his tyres were beginning to struggle. Even so, apart from Max Verstappen, his pace remained stronger than the other Red Bull and both Mercedes cars ahead.
Ferrari therefore brought Lewis Hamilton in for his first stop at the same time as Isack Hadjar, switching the seven-time world champion onto Medium tyres.
The pair were separated by around one and a half seconds and now occupied sixth and seventh. Charles Leclerc was ninth and, despite having complained about the performance only two laps earlier, set the fastest lap of the race.
Lewis Hamilton was not particularly satisfied with the yellow-walled Pirellis because he felt they lacked the performance he had expected. In reality, however, he was the fastest driver on track and had already closed onto the rear of the Red Bull ahead.
The challenge was to manage the Medium tyres because they still needed to last for at least another 22 laps. Charles Leclerc was 14 seconds further back. Once again, Ferrari had reason to regret the opening tyre gamble: the SF-26 clearly had strong race pace and could potentially have fought much closer to the front without the enormous early loss.
The importance of the changing compounds, stint lengths and tyre life throughout the Grand Prix can also be explored through the F1 Tyre & Stint Analysis.
Lewis Hamilton reaches the podium as Charles Leclerc takes fourth
Lewis Hamilton spent seven laps following Isack Hadjar without finding a way past. He could close on the main straight, but the Red Bull driver was able to rebuild a small margin through the second sector, leaving the Ferrari without enough speed to complete the move.
The Maranello pit wall therefore proposed a different approach: Lewis Hamilton should keep applying pressure in an attempt to force the Red Bull ahead to consume more battery energy, potentially creating an opportunity to attack later.
Before that plan could fully develop, another Virtual Safety Car was called. Ferrari reacted with a double pit stop and placed both SF-26s back onto Soft tyres. Lewis Hamilton emerged in sixth behind Oscar Piastri, while Charles Leclerc was behind Liam Lawson.
Isack Hadjar also changed tyres and retained fourth place. Oscar Piastri initially separated the Ferrari from its target, but the McLaren driver then changed course and entered the pits as the Virtual Safety Car became a full Safety Car.
The field was now compressed, giving Ferrari the opportunity it needed.
The race restarted with only four laps remaining after George Russell was forced to retire with a power unit problem. Lewis Hamilton moved into fourth, with Charles Leclerc fifth.
Lewis Hamilton needed only one lap to pass Isack Hadjar and move into third. Charles Leclerc completed the same move two laps later, putting the two Ferraris into third and fourth, where they remained until the chequered flag.
Ferrari had therefore completed an impressive recovery and returned to the podium despite badly compromising its own race at the start. Yet the final result also brought considerable frustration. Once the track dried, the SF-26 showed enough performance to fight near the front, making the decision to begin the race on slick tyres even more costly in hindsight.
The broader development of the SF-26 and the technical choices behind its performance can be followed through ScuderiaFans’ Ferrari technical analysis.
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