Lewis Hamilton has given Ferrari’s engineers and mechanics the credit for an impressive qualifying turnaround at Sepang, revealing that one final adjustment to his SF-26 finally brought the car into the elusive “sweet spot”.
After looking more like a top midfield threat than a front-row contender through much of the weekend, Hamilton found a late surge of pace when it mattered.
The seven-time world champion produced a superb final Q3 lap to qualify second, just 0.298 seconds behind Max Verstappen and securing his best qualifying result since Barcelona in June.
It was a result Hamilton had not expected after Ferrari’s struggles for one-lap pace, but a last-minute set-up gamble changed the picture.
Ferrari finds the magic window
Hamilton said the extreme Sepang heat had made finding the right balance particularly difficult, with sliding tyres and overheating rubber leaving Ferrari searching for answers throughout practice.
"It's so hot here. I keep saying it, but that's made it a massive challenge for the tyres, for the car, for the mechanics in the garage, and I'm really, really thankful to my team,” Hamilton said in parc ferme.
"We made so many changes through all these practice sessions, and because the cars are sliding, and these tyres are overheating, it was really, really hard to find a good balance.
"We made one last change going into qualifying, and I think we hit the sweet spot," the 106-time grand prix winner added.
"So to be able to close the gap to two or three tenths to Max, who's been so quick all weekend, is great. I'm so, so grateful."
©Ferrari
The turnaround was particularly striking given Ferrari’s expectations heading into qualifying. Hamilton believed fifth or sixth had been a more realistic target, especially after Mercedes introduced a major upgrade and had appeared to retain its advantage.
“We were kind of looking at fifth or sixth, throughout the weekend, in the ultimate pace compared to the rest. We saw Mercedes come with a big upgrade and, considering they’ve been winning every race, thought the upgrade would really propel them even further forwards,” Hamilton said.
“But it’s just interesting to find ourselves here. The car felt great. We’ve made lots of changes. Red Bull have obviously been making some great progress. I mean, the only place we lose is down the straights to them.
"I think we’re losing three or four tenths on the straights to them, which we know of, and so we just work as hard as we can to try and maximise in the corners.
“But I think we were able to do that today. So, this is really down to the mechanics and the engineers. We all did a really great job together, and then also execution was really on point. If we could keep this up, hopefully we can get better results moving forwards.”
‘These cars are so sensitive’
Hamilton later explained just how fine the margins had become during the set-up hunt, with seemingly microscopic changes capable of transforming the car’s behaviour.
“These cars are so sensitive,” he explained. “You make the smallest change and it’s ridiculous the difference it can make from one run, one session, to the other. One click of front wing, or one millimetre ride height, a quarter of a degree of camber, or 0.1 of toe, or something like that.
©Ferrari
“These little things make such a big difference to balance, and it’s literally a moving target that you’re trying to work around with set-up and then also controls that we have. Even then, understanding throttle application. If you get to full throttle too early and you lose time down the straight.
“These kind of things that I don’t think many of us like, but mastering all that together is a massive challenge and obviously makes it even harder for us because I think we’re so on the edge, because we are losing so much on the straights.
“So, I’m just hoping that we continue to work hard. If we get to a point where we have base power with these guys, I think we’re going to have an even better fight in future.”
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