When the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia eventually got going after an hour and 33 minutes of delays, it became apparent that the intermediate was the tyre to be on among the opening laps - even if the Sepang circuit had looked like it was drying out. At the front of the field, Ferrari and Mc Laren chose to go all-in on the dry tyres for the restart; Ferrari opted for the soft compound, while Mc Laren went for the mediums. When the race got underway behind the safety car, both teams were left to rue their choices as the circuit was still too slippery.
Mc Laren bailed on the plan early, stopping before the standing start to ensure Oscar Piastri could get a set of intermediates back onto the car, but Lando Norris and the Ferraris stuck with their choices. Charles Leclerc duly fed into the pitlane at the end of the lap, as the slick-tyre runners were swamped and then left behind by those who'd stuck with the intermediate for the start. Lewis Hamilton and Norris surmised that, since they'd made their beds, they'd lie in them.
Speaking about the decision, Norris stated that the idea of starting on the slick was "quite convincing" and that he was unsure of the performance of the inter. Leclerc theorised that the roughness of the tarmac made it more difficult to read the track surface, as water pooled up in the gaps - and the drop in temperature ensured that the circuit took much longer to dry out than expected.
Hamilton joked that he wasn't going to "go to the casino with the guys" after the team's gambles didn't pay off, although praised his team's strategy in keeping him out on the road. The Briton was ultimately less enamoured with the medium after making a stop on lap 31, but the late-race VSC (later a full safety car) presented a chance to return to the soft - which he put to use with a pass on Isack Hadjar for third.
Source: Autosport F1 News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing