Lewis Hamilton will line up on the entrance row for Sunday’s Bahrain GP in Malaysia after a last-minute set-up change unlocked hidden tempo in his Ferrari SF-26.
The seven-time World Champion secured second on the grid on the Sepang Worldwide Circuit. He completed simply three-tenths of a second behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen.
The end result marks a dramatic turnaround for Ferrari. They spent a lot of the follow classes trying to find an elusive dealing with steadiness within the brutal warmth.
Excessive observe temperatures made tyre preservation a central problem throughout Friday and Saturday. This precipitated vital sliding and thermal degradation throughout the sector.
“It’s so scorching right here. I hold saying it, however that’s made it an enormous problem for the tyres, for the automobile, for the mechanics within the storage, and I’m actually, actually grateful to my group,” Hamilton stated after the session.
“We made so many modifications by means of all these follow classes, and since the automobiles are sliding, and these tyres are overheating, it was actually, actually arduous to discover a good steadiness.”
Hitting the candy spot for the Bahrain GP
With tyre put on proving important, the Scuderia made one ultimate steadiness adjustment previous to qualifying.
The setup tweak instantly paid off. Hamilton positioned on the entrance row alongside Verstappen for the primary time for the reason that 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
“We made one final change going into qualifying, and I believe we hit the candy spot,” Hamilton added.
“So to have the ability to shut the hole to 2 or three tenths to Max, who’s been so fast all weekend, is nice. I’m so, so grateful.”
The front-row begin places Ferrari in robust rivalry for Sunday’s race, the place excessive degradation and strategic flexibility are anticipated to dictate the end result.
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