Hamilton had the pace to challenge Verstappen at Sepang, but a tire gamble killed his race before it started. After a software glitch during the formation lap forced him to stop and restart his Ferrari, the delayed start left teams guessing on rubber. The track was damp but drying. Hamilton and his engineers chose slick softs while the front-runners bolted on intermediates. "When we were at the end of the pit lane and these two took off their blankets and they were on inters, we were in trouble," he said. The inters dominated early. Hamilton refused to compound the error with another stop, nursing the softs until the track came to him. He clawed back to third, salvaging what looked like a disaster. The raw pace was there all weekend—Ferrari just missed the call when it mattered. Hamilton will have an "open dialogue" with the team about the decision. If they nail the strategy next week, the win might be there.
Read the full story at RaceFans
