Lewis Hamilton felt ‘heart sink’ as Ferrari tyre gamble backfired at Sepang

Lewis Hamilton joked he won’t head to a casino with his Ferrari colleagues any time soon after the team’s tyre gamble went against them early on at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

After a lengthy rain delay, the drivers were split on strategy as the race eventually began at Sepang. Hamilton was one of those to go out on slick rubber and lost positions, while the drivers on intermediate rubber made significant gains before the track dried out at Sepang.

Lewis Hamilton told Ferrari ‘it’s still wet’ before slick tyre gamble

Nevertheless, Hamilton stayed on his softs beyond the halfway point of the race, making his way well into the points by the time he had done so and, after a late pass on Isack Hadjar and a retirement for George Russell, the Ferrari driver found himself back in the podium places.

He admitted his “heart just sank” at seeing Max Verstappen on intermediates in front, with he and Ferrari having opted for a slick tyre strategy, despite Hamilton’s feedback that suggested the track would still be in intermediate conditions.

Having been one of multiple drivers to have had the fear of not even starting the race, after a software issue saw him needing to have his car effectively rebooted on the original formation laps, Hamilton was able to get back to the pit lane to start the race in earnest.

At one stage, Hamilton was more than a minute behind the race leaders before the track dried out, and he admitted he felt worried about his prospects early in the race, having started from the front row.

“Thankfully, we all got back to our position,” Hamilton said of the drivers’ return to the pit lane after the initial formation laps, “but then after that, there was such a long wait, and we were debating on what tyre to go onto.

“I said, ‘look, there was a lot of spray on the laps to the grid’, and I went into the pit lane. I looked at the ground, I was like, ‘it’s still wet.’ I went to the pit wall, and I was like, ‘it’s still wet’, and they’re like, ‘yeah, but it’s because it’s been so long, it’s definitely going to dry up really quick, and maybe we’re already in the crossover.’

“So, anyway, as a team, we ended up taking that soft and, when we were at the end of the pit lane and these two [Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli] took off their blankets and they were on inters, my heart just sank because I knew straight away that we were in trouble.

“As we pulled out, all the spray came out the back of Max’s car, and I was like, ‘okay, I’m done. My race is really in in trouble.’ I nearly didn’t make it round on the formation lap, so then we just had to stick with it.

“I think then, through that, as everyone’s overtaking me, they’re like ‘should we stop?’ [and] I was like ‘no, we’ve already made the decision, another 26 seconds, what’s the difference from that with one minute 40 or whatever I was down?’

“Let’s just wait it out for the track to dry, and once it did, it felt good that I was catching people. The car felt great. Then after that, really good pit stops from my guys in the garage, and then good strategy.

“For us to get back to the podium, I never thought that’s what was going to be the case, but of course I’m really, really grateful that we managed to get back here.”

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Asked about post-race discussions, he, Verstappen and Antonelli spoke and Hamilton quipped with a laugh that he’s “not going to go to the casino with the guys”, but believes Ferrari could be in a position to fight next weekend in Singapore.

“We’ll definitely have an open dialogue, and I am really so proud of my team, the mechanics every weekend, just the work they’re putting in, the engineers that are coming here every weekend, the catering. Everyone really, really comes and gives it their best,” he said.

“Their hearts are all in the right spot. We’ve definitely got areas that we need to improve, and we know that, and we’ve not been in any denial of that.

“So, I think we’ll have a constructive chat. We’ll regroup. We’ll take the positives from this weekend, which the car was really good, and we’ll come back next week fighting.

“I thought today, as I said, was a chance for us potentially to try and fight Max for the win, but maybe we can do that next week.”

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