Ferrari’s slick-tyre gamble backfires at Bahrain restart
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 4, 2026
Ferrari and McLaren
Ferrari and McLaren paid for a slick-tyre gamble at the Bahrain restart, with intermediates proving the better choice as the circuit stayed too slippery in the opening laps. McLaren made the first decisive move and switched Oscar Piastri to intermediates before the standing start. Lando Norris stayed out on slicks and lost ground right away. Norris said the slick call “seemed convincing at the time” because the intermediate had felt shredded on his reconnaissance lap, but he also admitted Piastri probably made the right decision. Ferrari took the same risk with both cars and did not get the payoff it wanted. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton stayed on slick tyres as the track refused to come in quickly enough for the setup to work. The opening laps turned into a test of judgment more than speed, and intermediates proved the better choice in the conditions.
Hamilton and Leclerc
Ferrari’s choice hit Charles Leclerc first. He pitted after the opening lap and blamed the rough tarmac and falling temperatures for leaving the circuit slower to dry than expected. Lewis Hamilton stayed out longer and spent the early part of the race telling Ferrari over the radio that the track was still really wet and very hard to survive on slick tyres. Ferrari engineer Carlo Santi told him the circuit would dry quickly and urged him to survive. The call did not work. Hamilton said Ferrari’s tyre choice cost him a possible win, and the lost track position showed how far the gamble had gone wrong. The slick-tyre run dropped him to 17th and more than a minute behind the leader. Ferrari had put both drivers in the same position, but Hamilton carried the deeper burden because he stayed on slicks longer and had more ground to regain.
Hamilton recovers
Hamilton’s race turned once the safety cars began to reshape the field. A safety car for Valtteri Bottas bunched everyone back together and gave Hamilton a path back into the fight. He switched to mediums on lap 31 and used that change to steady the race after the opening damage. Ferrari still had work to do after the strategy call, but Hamilton continued to recover as the race progressed. During a late virtual safety car and safety car period, he switched back to soft tyres and passed Isack Hadjar for third. That move completed a recovery that looked out of reach when the slick gamble first failed. Hamilton said he was grateful to reach the podium and that the team would review the failed gamble constructively. The result left Ferrari with a clear lesson from the restart, McLaren with the benefit of the right early call for Piastri and Hamilton with a hard-earned podium after a race that began with damage control.
