Lewis Hamilton believes victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia slipped away because of Ferrari's disastrous early tyre choice at Sepang. The seven-time champion recovered to finish third after dropping to 17th in the opening laps, and when asked if the win might have been on without the blunder, he replied with a rueful smile: "Yep, unfortunately."
Mixed feelings after podium finish
All teams faced a difficult decision on which tyre compound to start on after heavy rain delayed the race start. The lengthy wait allowed the circuit to dry significantly in places, prompting some teams to start on slicks. However, other parts of the track remained wet, and it quickly became clear that those on slicks had significantly less grip than those on intermediate tyres.
Ferrari opted to put both cars on slicks but soon regretted it. Within a handful of laps, Hamilton had dropped from second on the grid to 17th and more than a minute off the leaders. Team-mate Charles Leclerc was even further adrift after picking up front wing damage on lap one and stopping for a new nose box and a change to the inters.
Hamilton's gamble pays off
Hamilton resisted the team's preference to cut its losses and said he wanted to stay out. That paid off as the track dried enough for the slicks to become stronger. A safety car period allowed those who had lost time to close back up, and once the race resumed, Hamilton showed supreme pace on the soft tyre, which he made last for half of the 55-lap race.
A shorter stint on the mediums was less convincing, but back on the softs he was flying again and finished third, helped by George Russell's late retirement with an engine problem. Hamilton admitted to "mixed feeling" about the result, saying: "On one side, I'm really grateful to have got back to the podium. And then, the other side, with the debates we were having in the background, to then see the covers come off the other car ahead on wets and us on slicks, and the track being so tricky and dangerous at the beginning, my heart sank. I was kind of like, 'That's the race over'."
He added: "But then they asked if we should stop and I was like, 'No, we've already made the decision, we have to live with it and we'll stay out here until this bloody place dries'. Eventually, it did and I just kept my head down, kept pushing. I just didn't give up. I definitely didn't expect to get back to P3. It's crazy to think we were over a minute down."
Team principal acknowledges wrong call
Team principal Frederic Vasseur acknowledged they made the wrong call but pointed out that other teams did too. He said: "For sure, the choice of the tyres you can discuss at length, but I think 50 percent of the cars went for slick and 50 for inters. From the pit lane, you don't have the whole picture of the track and it's not easy to understand what is the exact situation. But, for sure, we were on the wrong side."
Vasseur also noted Leclerc's contact on lap one forced a pit stop for a new nose box, but he recovered to fourth. "It's a strong result for the team," he said. "When you consider we were 21 and 22 on lap one, it's a very strong performance."
