The 2026 F1 Malaysia race reserved a lot of mixed emotions for Scuderia Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. Nevertheless, the seven-time World Champion still managed to bring back home his sixth podium of the year with a late overtake on Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
An up-and-down day for Hamilton in Malaysia
After a strong Qualifying session, which allowed him to line up from second place, Hamilton’s Malaysian Sunday almost appeared to be over right before it started. During the first formation lap following the rain delay, the Brit’s SF-26 significantly slowed down, almost coming to a halt, due to a software issue, which happens to numerous other cars on the grid.
Consequently, the starting procedure was stopped, in order to allow the FIA to update the software settings. During the lengthy wait, several drivers, included both Ferrari man, changed tyres to slicks, with the strategical teams believing that the time would have been enough for much of the standing water to be gone.
However, after the race restart, it immediately became evident that the drivers still on the intermediates were significantly more performant than the ones who had pitted, with Leclerc additionally slowed down by a collision with Hülkenberg which forced him to stop and change his front wing.
Hamilton didn’t agree with the strategy, opening up on the radio before the race start to share it was the wrong call. In the end, he opted to power through the soft stint, not stopping until Lap 31 for fresh tyres. While initially he dropped to P18 as the inters were much quicker, he charged up from P15 after the first Safety Car as he produced an overtaking exhibition to get himself into P5.
Ultimately, he found his way back into the top places, even securing a positive third place with an overtake on Hadjar at Turn 1 of Lap 52. George Russell’s late DNF also helped.
Hamilton had higher expectations
Hamilton opened up about his complicated, yet overall positive Malaysia F1 race, as he detailed his 2026 Sepang experience from the Ferrari cockpit.
”Big, big congrats to Max today. They’ve done a really great job in improving through this year. I think for us, we were having a good weekend. The car felt great in qualifying, it felt amazing to get to second. Me and my engineers were here till, like, half past eleven last night just going over everything, and I really, really felt today was the opportunity to have at least a good battle with Max.”
While he had felt there could be potential for an even higher finish, the former Mercedes man had to come to terms with the real, challenging weather conditions, which significantly made his day harder even before the actual race start.
“But then, obviously, the rain came, the big panic with everyone when we all lost power. Particularly, my power didn’t come back and I had to stop on track and restart the car. Then we all ended up in the pit lane. Thankfully, we all got back to our positions, but after that there was such a long wait and we were debating on what tyre to go on to.”
The wrong strategy for Lewis Hamilton
He tried to convince Ferrari about switching to inters as the track took quite some time to dry. However, the strategy team persevered in their choice.
“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 because it’s been so long, it’s definitely going to dry up real quick and maybe we’re already in the crossover.” So, anyways, as a team, we ended up taking that soft and when we were at the end of the pit lane and these two took off their blankets and they’re on inters, we were in trouble.
“And 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 trouble.” So, I mean, he didn’t make it around on the formation lap, so then we just had to stick with it. Like, we’ve made the decision and live with it. And then, through that, as everyone’s overtaken me, they’re like, “We stop,” because I know we’ve already made another 26 seconds.”
Track evolution and conditions reassessment in 2026 F1 Malaysia race
“What’s the difference from that with one minute 40 or whatever I was down? So I was just, “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. But for us to get back to the podium, I never thought that that was going to be the case. But, of course, I’m really, really grateful that we managed to get back here.”
A silver lining for the future in the form of P3 — but something has to change
Third place in the drivers’ standings, Hamilton also expanded on the open radio discussions with his team in Malaysia, remarking his belief in them but also the need for more two-way communication, aiming at improving the final performance of the Scuderia and, even more so, securing his second F1 win of the 2026 season.
“Yeah, we’ll definitely have an open dialogue. I’m really so proud of my team. The mechanics every weekend, just the work they’re putting in, the engineers that accompany here every weekend, the catering, everyone really, really comes and gives it their best. Their heart’s all in the right spot. We’ve definitely got areas that we need to improve and we know that, and we’re not in any denial of that.”
While the Sepang round didn’t turn out the way Hamilton and Ferrari had hoped, the Brit remains confident ahead of the next leg in Singapore, believing in his team, his resources and the actual performance of the SF-26.
“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.”
