Ferrari own up to key mistake on Lewis Hamilton’s debut

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has admitted his team made “the wrong call” in leaving their drivers out on slick tyres when late rain hit in the F1 Australian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton had been running fifth and eighth respectively when a sudden heavy rain downpour hit the Albert Park track. While most drivers immediately headed to the pits to change back onto intermediate tyres, the two Ferraris stayed out on hards.

Max Verstappen also initially stayed out but was quickly called in to box for wets by his Red Bull team.

Hamilton and Leclerc briefly ran first and second before being overtaken by Lando Norris, who had switched onto inters, and looked to be in podium contention, but when the rain intensified it became clear Ferrari’s strategy gamble had backfired.

Ferrari called both their drivers into the pits on Lap 47, by which point the race had been neutralised by a Safety Car following crashes for Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson.

Leclerc and Hamilton subsequently dropped to ninth and 10th places in the Safety Car queue when they emerged back on track following their late pit stops.

Explaining the thinking behind the decision, Ferrari team principal Vasseur said: "It was a strange situation because sector one and two were still dry and sector three was completely wet and it was a kind of a bet I think that Red Bull and us, we bet on the fact that we have to stay on track and to wait for the last part of the race with slicks.

"When Mercedes and McLaren, but McLaren it's also because they went out that they pitted two laps before. We made the wrong call because I think the best option was to pit the same lap as Max and we made the wrong call at this stage.”

Leclerc managed to gain a place to finish eighth, while Hamilton could only take 10th after being overtaken by McLaren's Oscar Piastri on the final lap. 

Ferrari communication under the spotlight

Ferrari’s drivers appeared to receive conflicting messages about the amount of rain that would hit Melbourne.

While Leclerc was warned of “class three” rain approaching the circuit, Hamilton appeared to be surprised about the weather in an exchange with new race engineer Ricardo Adami.

"I thought you said it wasn't going to rain much? We just missed a big opportunity there,” Hamilton lamented over team radio.

Vasseur was asked about the apparent confusion at Ferrari.

"Yes, but this is very difficult that we don't have a sensor for the rain, it means that it's more a feeling, it's what we can see on the screen, what we can have on the radar, it's true from corner to corner,” he said.

"I think we were all surprised by the quantity of rain at this stage of the race, McLaren first, and now we did debate to stay on track with the slicks and to survive, but it was the wrong call.”