F1 News: Lewis Hamilton lays out Ferrari battle plan to win Bahrain Grand Prix

Hamilton vreest winterrace in Imola: ‘Niet de plek voor veel inhaalacties’ — Photo: © IMAGO

Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton lays out Ferrari F1 battle plan to win Bahrain Grand Prix

Hamilton lines up P2 for Sunday's race

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson F1 Editor

Motorsport journalist covering F1 since 2024

Saturday 3 October 2026 14:54

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F1 legend Lewis Hamilton has a certain game plan in mind for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and says he must not be drawn into a race that does not suit his Ferrari car.

The seven-time world champion lines up P2 on the grid for lights out, just behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen after outqualifying all but one of the F1 field on Saturday afternoon.

Hamilton did trail Verstappen by just shy of three tenths (+0.298s) at the end of Q3, though, meaning the Red Bull star certainly appears to have the pace advantage.

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Lewis Hamilton reveals Bahrain GP battle plan

After the session, Hamilton was quick to point out the strengths and weaknesses of his Ferrari car, and how it influences the battle plan for Sunday's race and trying to challenge his former title rival.

"What I do know is we do carry this deficit of straight line speed. What that ultimately means, I think we're slightly quicker through corners, particularly like low speed corners," Hamilton told Sky Sports on air.

"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."

That straight line deficit means Hamilton is going to have to push more in the corners to keep up with Verstappen, but he says the key to success on Sunday is not doing too much of this and destroying his tyres.

"What that means then for the race on a track like this, where degradation is very very high, tyres getting so hot all the time - we have to push more through corners to try and keep up and make up for the losses on the straight," he added.

"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.

"So I think we just have to run our own race, whatever that be pace-wise, and not focus not be focusing on trying to over-push to hold on."

Hamilton: Verstappen has the pace to pull away

Regardless of what he does, though, Hamilton believes that Verstappen and Red Bull have the upper hand in terms of pace, although he certainly won't give up the fight.

"I think he's [Verstappen] got the pace generally to pull away," Hamilton concluded.

"But if that's different when we start the race and we're able to hold on or we're in the fight, that'll be awesome as well.

"But all we can do is do our best."