The Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang once again highlighted Lewis Hamilton’s talent at Ferrari, with the seven-time world champion managing to recover from a serious strategy error by the pit wall. Despite being left with a compromised car after the decision to use the soft tyres, Lewis Hamilton produced an outstanding display of sensitivity, pace and race management. The major concern remains Ferrari’s handling of race strategy and the way the team communicates its decisions.
The Malaysian race provided another example of how Lewis Hamilton’s experience can limit the consequences when circumstances turn against Ferrari. After an impressive qualifying performance, the Briton had to deal with a situation that quickly became far more complicated than expected, raising further questions over the team’s decision-making during a weekend in which tyre behaviour at Sepang was always expected to play a major role.
Lewis Hamilton manages Ferrari’s strategy mistake
Without taking anything away from the excellent Charles Leclerc, the Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia once again confirmed the enormous talent of Lewis Hamilton. At Sepang, the Ferrari driver became almost the perfect embodiment of the message “never give up”. It was a race in which he was not only genuinely quick, but also displayed the complete range of qualities that have defined his Formula 1 career. Hats off, Mr Lewis.
The race began with an immediate setback. Ferrari came up with what appeared to be a clever idea: start on the soft tyres, survive the opening laps and then begin building pace while potentially avoiding a pit stop. On paper, the strategy looked intelligent. The problem was that the conditions in which it was applied were nowhere near suitable for it. It became a major mistake that left both Ferrari drivers in serious difficulty.
Unlike Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton was also unable to correct the pit wall’s mistake. He was forced to remain on track and drive an almost unmanageable car for at least ten laps. It became a genuine nightmare, but one that Lewis Hamilton handled superbly. He never gave up and consistently kept driving errors out of the equation despite the difficult circumstances.
The episode once again put Ferrari’s strategic execution under the spotlight. Readers can follow the team’s broader pit-lane decisions, stop timing and race-management trends through the Ferrari pit-stop and strategy data.
Lewis Hamilton remains a formidable Formula 1 driver
“On this track, the tyres won’t start working before ten laps,” Lewis Hamilton said as he prepared to line up in second position on the grid. Ferrari’s pit wall believed that two or three laps would be enough before the restart and convinced Lewis Hamilton that this would be the case. The Ferrari driver could also have opposed the decision and did not do so, meaning he shares part of the responsibility. Next time, greater attention will be required.
But the question remains: why were dozens of technicians, supported by all the technology available to a Formula 1 team, unable to anticipate such a scenario? There is no obvious answer. It must also be acknowledged that almost half of the grid encountered the same problem, which provides Ferrari with some mitigation. Even so, knowing that others made the same mistake offers little consolation. Lewis Hamilton will have taken note for the future.
There is still satisfaction in knowing that he gave everything and never questioned his own ability for even a second. At 41 years of age, after producing an excellent qualifying performance and then finding himself having to fight back from the rear of the field, Lewis Hamilton refused to become discouraged. That is what shows the Briton remains intact as a racing driver: his talent does not disappear even in circumstances such as these.
The performance reflected a continued desire to compete at the highest level and a fierce competitive spirit. Those characteristics are essential in Formula 1, particularly when wearing Ferrari red and pursuing the dream of achieving something important in arguably the most difficult environment of all. Lewis Hamilton deserves credit. He remains a great champion, and even if he ultimately wins nothing with Ferrari, he has still managed to win people over after a disastrous 2025 season. More coverage of his Ferrari campaign can be found in the Lewis Hamilton section.
Ferrari still has a major problem to address
The final issue concerns public statements and the way Lewis Hamilton conducts himself in front of the cameras. He is accustomed to speaking clearly, with little politics and considerable directness. It is the approach of a leader who is not afraid to acknowledge his own mistakes or expose his weaknesses. He is a figure of enormous stature, but unfortunately Ferrari does not always follow the same approach in its own communication.
Ferrari’s senior leadership continues, on too many occasions, to present versions of events that appear at the very least imaginative. It is not an approach that helps the team. The hope is that, internally at least, public-facing statements give way to a more direct assessment of reality. Considering the repeated mistakes made over recent seasons, however, it is difficult to be fully convinced. Hopefully, this time, that concern proves misplaced.
The team principal is certainly one person who could do more. Neither the individual nor his commitment to Ferrari can be questioned, but his media approach can. A repeated tendency to distort reality for personal advantage is never helpful. It can affect judgement and establish precedents that later become difficult to ignore. This appears to be one of Ferrari’s biggest problems as a team.
The challenge is therefore not only to give Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc a faster Formula 1 car, but also to improve how decisions are made, assessed and communicated when races become complicated. Sepang showed once again that driver quality can sometimes reduce the consequences of a strategic mistake, but it cannot permanently solve the underlying problem.
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