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Lewis Hamilton described the opening day of the Sepang race weekend as a significant challenge, admitting that dialling in the car's balance was far from straightforward. Nonetheless, the Briton remains confident that Ferrari are well within striking distance and firmly in contention at the front.
While team-mate Charles Leclerc set the pace in the second practice session, the seven-time world champion wrapped up FP2 in fifth place, three-tenths off the top. Hamilton's Friday was also complicated by an impeding incident involving Gabriel Bortoleto, which drew scrutiny from the FIA stewards.
Summing up his initial takeaways, Hamilton highlighted that low grip levels troubled most of the field, with Ferrari testing varied set-up directions across both sessions to find the optimal sweet spot.
"Overall, it was a tricky day due to the very low grip levels on track. Finding the right balance wasn't easy, but that seemed to be an issue for everyone. We explored several different set-up avenues during the sessions, and our focus is now on analysing the data to find the right compromise. We don't look far off the leaders' pace, but we know there is still work to do to get the car into a better window for tomorrow."
Encouragingly for the Scuderia, their long-run simulations showed strong promise. Leclerc displayed formidable and highly consistent race pace behind the wheel of the SF-26, trading competitive lap times with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, even though the Dutchman was running the more durable medium compound.
Although such comparisons come with caveats regarding tyre choices, stint lengths, and unknown fuel loads, Ferrari's underlying speed fuels genuine optimism that they will have the race pace required to battle at the sharp end on Sunday.
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