Summary
- Hamilton qualified second at Sepang, 0.298s behind Verstappen.
- He described his final qualifying effort as probably his best lap of the year.
- Ferrari’s straight-line deficit could force it to push harder through corners and increase tyre degradation.
Lewis Hamilton described his Sepang qualifying effort as probably his “best lap of the year”, celebrating an unexpected front-row position for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. However, the Ferrari driver warned that Max Verstappen could have the pace to pull away in Sunday’s race.
Hamilton recorded 1:35.428, finishing 0.298s behind Verstappen in Saturday’s Formula 1 qualifying session. His satisfaction came from both the lap itself and Ferrari’s execution after the work required to find the right balance in the car.
Speaking during the post-qualifying interviews at Sepang, Hamilton explained how many elements had to come together. Before discussing the technical challenge, he joked about how much he had been talking after a result that lifted his mood.
“Yeah, I don’t understand how I’m still the only one here. I’ve been talking too much. Talk a lot when you’re happier.”
“We’ve really been working so hard to progress, to dial in this car, and it’s been a massive challenge. It’s such, I think people watching, maybe they do know, but it’s such fine margins, and it’s like balancing a knife on its head, which is pretty much impossible, you know, and so finding that balance with everything, with the power unit, with the aero platform we have, with the mechanical balance and the brake balance and all these different things, and then the team getting you out on track and getting you in the right position, all these different things, tyre temperatures.”
Hamilton celebrates an unexpected front row
Hamilton had not expected to qualify on the front row, making the result particularly rewarding. He singled out the mechanics and engineers working in the heat at Sepang, crediting their contribution to a session in which Ferrari put him alongside Verstappen.
“So many elements have to come together, but that was one of my most enjoyable laps of the year, I have to say. I think it was probably my best lap of the year, and so I wasn’t expecting to be on the front row, but it’s really just a great showing to the mechanics.”
“Everyone’s working so hard in these hot garages here this weekend, and then the mechanics, the engineers did a really good job as well, so I’m massively thankful to them.”
Hamilton finished ahead of Isack Hadjar and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the session. The full times and positions are available in the Sepang qualifying results, while Hadjar’s penalty provisionally moves Antonelli into third on the starting grid.
Ferrari’s straight-line deficit threatens race pace
Hamilton’s confidence in his qualifying performance did not translate into a prediction of victory. He identified Ferrari’s lack of straight-line speed as a potential problem, especially when combined with Sepang’s high tyre degradation.
His explanation was that Ferrari can recover time through corners, particularly slower ones, but loses ground on the straights. Trying to compensate by pushing harder in the turns could then make its tyres deteriorate more quickly.
“I mean, I think I can be really happy with today. I think in the last race we were not fast in the race. So I don’t know pace-wise how we will be tomorrow.”
“What I do know is we do carry this deficit of straight-line speed, and what that ultimately means, I think we’re slightly quicker through corners, particularly low-speed corners, I think we’re a little bit quicker than, say, the Red Bulls, some of the others, but then on the straights we lose a lot.”
“What that means then for the race, on a track like this where degradation is very, very high, tyres are getting so hot all the time, we have to push more through corners to try and keep up, make up for the losses in the straights, so that’s ultimately what we have to be careful of doing too much of tomorrow and degrading more and trying to hold on to them.”
Hamilton says Ferrari must run its own race
Hamilton believes Ferrari must resist the temptation to over-push simply to follow Verstappen. His priority is to manage the pace the car can sustain, while remaining ready to fight if the race proves more competitive than he expects.
“So I think we just have to run our own race, whatever that be pace-wise, and not be focussing on trying to over-push to hold on.”
“I think he’s got the pace generally to pull away, but if that’s different when we start the race and we’re able to hold on and we’re in the fight, that would be awesome as well. But all we can do is do our best.”
Hamilton and Verstappen retain the front row after the three announced grid penalties. Their positions and the changes behind them are detailed in the projected Sepang starting grid.
Sunday’s race starts at 15:00 Malaysia time, equivalent to 08:00 BST in the UK, 03:00 EDT in New York and Toronto, 12:30 IST in India and 18:00 AEDT in Sydney and Melbourne. Hamilton enters it encouraged by Saturday’s performance, but cautious about how Ferrari’s speed deficit will affect the longer runs.
Formula 1 continues this weekend, from 2–4 October, in Malaysia, which hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix. GRANDE PRÊMIO will cover all the action at Sepang.
F1 today: FAQ
What time is F1 qualifying at Sepang?
Qualifying starts on Saturday, 3 October, at 16:00 Malaysia time. That is 09:00 BST in the UK, 04:00 EDT in New York and Toronto, 01:00 PDT in Los Angeles and Vancouver, 13:30 IST in India and 18:00 AEST in Sydney.
Did Lewis Hamilton receive a grid penalty for the Bortoleto incident?
No. Hamilton received a warning after impeding Gabriel Bortoleto during FP2 at Sepang. Ferrari was fined €10,000, but Hamilton will not lose grid positions over the incident.
Why were F1 lap times at Sepang over four seconds slower than expected?
Pirelli identified low grip, dust and an abrasive surface that increased tyre sliding and degradation. Friday’s benchmark was more than four seconds slower than its qualifying simulation reference, rather than four seconds slower than the 2017 race weekend.
