Hamilton says opening tyre call was wrong after Sepang comeback

At the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia at Sepang on 4 October, Lewis Hamilton dropped from second on the grid to P17 and a minute behind on the opening lap. He fought back to finish third, 4.919 seconds behind Max Verstappen. Afterward, he said the call at the start had been wrong.

Thunderstorms pushed back the start. The first start procedure was then suspended after formation-lap problems involving several cars, including Hamilton; the race began an hour and 40 minutes after its original slot. At the FIA press conference after the race, Hamilton recalled Ferrari debating tyres during the wait. He said he told the pit wall the track was still wet, but was told it could dry quickly and might already be near the crossover to slicks. The team ultimately chose softs, he said.

That choice cost Hamilton ground immediately: after a couple of laps, the slick runners had fallen to the rear as the 14 cars on intermediates swept past. RacingNews365 reported that Ferrari asked Hamilton to pit for intermediates on lap five and he refused; by lap eight, he was 18th. Hamilton later recalled seeing a one-minute deficit on the screen and thinking the race was over. After other cars passed him, he chose to wait for the track to dry; once it did, he felt he was catching people.

Late events also affected the final order. George Russell’s retirement moved both Ferraris up a place, while a late battery issue hampered Isack Hadjar’s defence. Hamilton finished third, Charles Leclerc fourth and Hadjar fifth.

Vasseur gave a different account of Ferrari’s pit-wall message in comments published on 5 October: he said that when Ferrari told Hamilton it was ready, the driver could pit if he thought that was the right call. Vasseur also said intermediates would have been the better starting tyre, although Ferrari made its choice with the information available at the time. Hamilton called the podium bittersweet, saying Ferrari had an opportunity it did not maximise. He also said he had not expected to recover to third and was grateful to do so.