The mystery behind Ferrari's controversial decision to start the race at Sepang on dry slick tyres has finally been uncovered. This massive gamble by the Maranello squad involved both of their star drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. The bold choice immediately made their race an uphill battle from the moment the lights went out, dropping both drivers down the order due to a severe lack of grip on a damp track.
Team Principal Frederic Vasseur defended the strategy after the race by pointing out that fifty percent of the field had chosen slick tyres. He argued that it would only become clear on the first lap whether the choice was right or wrong, and by that point, coming into the pitlane would have been far too late. Vasseur emphasized that the pit wall only possessed information arriving directly from the track surface during the frantic moments before the formation lap.
However, an analysis of the radio communications between the drivers and their engineers revealed a fascinating background story. The decision to send both cars out on slick tyres was actually made after watching the onboard footage from the Safety Car while waiting in the pit lane ahead of the grid formation. Transcripts show the initial hesitation from the British driver as he noticed what the rival teams were opting to use for the tricky conditions.
Lewis Hamilton radioed his team to note that Mercedes was on intermediate tyres, but the Ferrari pit wall replied that they had seen a dry track from the Safety Car onboards and promised he would see it himself upon entering the circuit. When Hamilton asked if his teammate was on the same rubber, the team confirmed the identical setup for both cars. This visual indication from the official course car proved severely misleading, a point later echoed by Max Verstappen during a post-race chat in the holding room where he remarked that the track looked dry from afar despite holding massive amounts of water on the asphalt.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc immediately realized the mistake the moment they hit the circuit during the formation lap, flagging the treacherous conditions to their engineers. Hamilton reported over the radio that the track would not dry out for at least ten laps, while Leclerc asked if they should dive into the pitlane for interims because the circuit was currently extremely wet and hard to manage.
Despite the explicit warnings delivered directly from the cockpit during the formation lap, the Ferrari pit wall stuck to their original plan. They ignored the distress signals sent by their drivers and forced both cars to start the Grand Prix directly from their grid slots on slick tyres, effectively ruining their afternoon from the very beginning.
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