Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur admitted the team made the wrong tyre call at the start of the 2026 F1 race in Malaysia, despite Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc recovering to finish third and fourth respectively. Heavy rain delayed the start at the Sepang International Circuit and led to a disrupted opening procedure. When the race eventually got underway, teams faced a major decision over whether to start on slicks or intermediates as the circuit began to dry.
Ferrari opted to send both Hamilton and Leclerc out on soft tyres, but the gamble quickly backfired. Both drivers lost significant ground during the opening laps as those on intermediates held a clear advantage in the slippery conditions.
Leclerc eventually stopped for intermediates following contact with Nico Hülkenberg, while Hamilton remained on slicks for longer. Despite their difficult start, both Ferrari drivers fought back through the field. Hamilton eventually passed Isack Hadjar in the closing stages to secure third place behind Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli, while Leclerc followed him past the Red Bull driver to take fourth.
Vasseur admits Ferrari made the wrong starting tyre choice
Ferrari were not alone in gambling on slick tyres when the race finally started, with several teams and drivers making the same choice. However, the conditions remained too wet for the slick runners, costing Hamilton and Leclerc considerable time in the first part of the race.
Asked what Ferrari had based its decision on, Vasseur explained that the conditions left teams split over which tyre would prove best.
“Based on our feeling on the grid, I think 50% of the cars went for slicks, 50% for wet. You can’t try, you just have a look at the tarmac in front of you in the pit lane, and for sure it was not the good one. Now it’s not that I have no regrets, for sure it’s clear that it was better to start with inters, but we did the choice with the information that we had.”
The choice immediately hurt Ferrari. Hamilton and Leclerc dropped well down the order during the opening lap while the intermediate runners established a sizeable advantage.
Ferrari expected Sepang circuit to dry much faster
Sepang has traditionally dried quickly because of Malaysia’s warm conditions, and Ferrari expected the track to improve rapidly following the earlier downpour. However, that crossover did not arrive quickly enough to make starting on slick tyres worthwhile.
Vasseur acknowledged that Ferrari’s expectations over how rapidly the circuit would dry ultimately contributed to the wrong call.
“See, when you have to take your decision, you are trying to base the decision on good parameters, but for sure, at the end of the day, we have to be lucid that it was not the right call, that it would have been much better for us to start with Inters. But we were considering that it will dry very quickly, and so on. The pit stop was quite long also, 26 seconds.”
Ferrari therefore faced a difficult balance between losing time on slick tyres at the beginning and potentially losing further time through an additional pit stop if the circuit dried shortly afterwards. The slick tyre eventually became the correct option when the crossover arrived, with a Safety Car triggered by Valtteri Bottas helping the intermediate runners make their own switch. By then, however, Ferrari had already lost substantial track position.
Vasseur explains Hamilton’s decision to remain on slicks
Hamilton remained on his slick tyres while Ferrari told him over the radio that the team was ready for him in the pits.
Vasseur clarified that Ferrari had not ordered Hamilton to stop during the formation lap for the F1 race in Malaysia. Instead, the team left the final decision with its driver because Hamilton had the clearest understanding of the track conditions from inside the car.
“No, we let him [Lewis Hamilton] the choice. At the end, in this situation, they are in the car. When we are telling him that we are ready, it’s just to tell him that he can pit if he thinks it’s the right call.”
Hamilton’s decision ultimately meant he endured the difficult slick conditions for longer, but he recovered once the circuit dried. He climbed through the field, passing several cars before eventually taking third place in the closing stages.
Despite Ferrari’s strategy error at the beginning of the race, Hamilton’s podium and Leclerc’s fourth place gave the team a strong recovery from an opening phase that had initially left both cars over a minute off the Mercedes cars and Max Verstappen.
