Lewis Hamilton recovered from 17th place and a one-minute deficit to claim third at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, but the seven-time World Champion described the result as “bittersweet” after a tyre gamble at the start cost him a shot at victory.
Hamilton, who had qualified second, dropped 15 places on the opening lap after Ferrari fitted his car with slick soft tyres in mixed conditions rather than intermediates. With the track failing to dry as quickly as anticipated, he fell a full minute behind the leaders before choosing to stay on the softs — against the team’s suggestion to switch — a call that ultimately proved correct as he charged back through the field.
Max Verstappen won the race, with Kimi Antonelli second and Hamilton crossing the line third.
“I think it’s bittersweet,” Hamilton told media after the race. “We had an opportunity and ultimately didn’t maximise it. I had a tough time at the beginning, but after the race got going and I managed to keep it on track — which, I’m telling you, was so, so hard.”
Hamilton said he had written off his chances when he saw the gap on his in-car display. “I could see on the screen it was a minute down, and I thought that was kind of race over for us. But I just kept my head down, the guys did a great job with the pit stops — obviously lots of tyre changes and lots of chasing.”
Despite the frustration, Hamilton acknowledged the weekend represented one of his stronger performances since joining Ferrari. “I think we did a really good job yesterday. The engineers did a great job, the mechanics did a great job with changing and fixing the car, getting the car where it needed to be. The car felt good in the race.”
The race itself was delayed before it began due to thunderstorms in the Sepang area, and the initial formation lap was suspended after several drivers, including Hamilton, struggled to maintain speed in the difficult conditions.
Hamilton said the team would review the opening-lap tyre decision ahead of the next round. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and look and see how we could have done better today, and we’ll try and take this performance onto next week.”