Lewis Hamilton dragged Ferrari back to the podium in Sepang, saving a Sunday that started as an absolute disaster on slick tyres. As Motorsport.com Italia reports, the gamble to start on dry compound tyres on a damp track nearly destroyed the team's race before it even properly began. Just half a lap was enough to reveal the massive mistake, leaving Verstappen and the Mercedes cars to sprint away while the Ferrari machines plummeted down the order. By lap eight, Charles Leclerc ran sixteenth and Hamilton sat eighteenth, trailing the leader by over a minute. The grand prix looked utterly finished.
Frederic Vasseur admitted the massive error without hesitation. The team principal explained that they had relied on data suggesting the track would dry rapidly, while also weighing up the roughly 26-second pit-stop time loss. The race was suddenly thrown back into the melting pot on lap nine, however, when the Safety Car appeared to wipe out the enormous gap.
While Leclerc pitted for intermediate tyres, Hamilton trusted his gut and told his engineer Carlo Santi to keep him out on the soft set he started on. Staying on track vaulted him six positions immediately. Vasseur noted that the team gave the driver the freedom to choose, emphasizing that the person in the cockpit is best positioned to make that call in the moment. The recovery was far from straightforward, as Hamilton later switched to a medium compound that lacked effectiveness, leaving him stuck behind Isack Hadjar. A second Safety Car on lap 43 changed the script again, allowing Hamilton to strap on a fresh set of softs and immediately dispatch the Red Bull upon the restart.
Vasseur praised Hamilton's brilliant performance, highlighting his seven overtakes, immaculate tyre management, and the sheer clarity required to seize every chaotic opportunity. His charge culminated in a fourth-place finish on the road, which became third following a retirement for George Russell.
Charles Leclerc endured an even harder afternoon, kicked off by a first-lap collision with Nico Hulkenberg that demanded a new front wing. Vasseur defended his driver, noting that mistakes are bound to happen when wrestling slick tyres in such brutal conditions. Leclerc also heavily benefited from the late Safety Car, which erased his deficit to Hadjar and allowed him to secure twelfth-place points that felt almost miraculous given the circumstances.
Ultimately, Sepang provided a much-needed boost for Maranello. Beyond ending the five-race podium drought, the SF-26 proved its underlying pace and snatched a crucial seventeen-point gain over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.
