<\/p>\n
Ferrari started both cars on slick tyres despite the wet track, expecting conditions to improve more quickly than they ultimately did.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton and Leclerc lost considerable ground during the opening laps before recovering through competitive race pace and effective tyre management.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI think 50% of the cars went for slicks and 50% for wets,\u201d Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure, it was not the good one. It\u2019s clear that it was better to start with intermediates, but we made the choice with the information that we had.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leclerc collided with Nico Hulkenberg at the start and immediately stopped for intermediate tyres and a replacement front wing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton remained on slicks longer after Ferrari allowed Hamilton to assess the conditions from inside the car.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe let Hamilton have the choice,\u201d Vasseur said. \u201cIn this situation, drivers are in the car. When we tell them that we are ready, it is just to say that they can pit if they think it is the right call.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton eventually recovered to third, while Leclerc finished fourth. Both drivers gained a position following George Russell\u2019s late retirement, while Isack Hadjar\u2019s battery problem reduced the challenge from behind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Vasseur praised Hamilton\u2019s long final stint on soft tyres.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHamilton did a very good race with a very smooth strategy,\u201d Vasseur said. \u201cHamilton was able to do a very long stint with very good tyre management on the soft.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s recovery left questions about whether a start on intermediate tyres could have produced a stronger result. \u201cI don\u2019t know, because the race is different when you have to overtake 20 cars rather than run at the front,\u201d Vasseur said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pace was solid, and when Hamilton was at the end of the stint with the soft tyre, Hamilton was still doing very good lap times.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ferrari had shown competitive qualifying pace in recent races, but Vasseur said performance over a race distance was stronger in Malaysia. \u201cThe race pace was much better this weekend,\u201d Vasseur said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ferrari will now turn attention to the Singapore Grand Prix, where changing circuit conditions will present another challenge. \u201cWe are expecting to produce another good performance next week, and I hope we\u2019ll do it,\u201d Vasseur said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–F1\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40591,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-47310","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ferrari recovered from an incorrect tyre choice to finish third and fourth through Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.","published_date":"","news_description":"Ferrari recovered from an incorrect tyre choice to finish third and fourth through Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47311,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47310\/revisions\/47311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}