Hamilton left with mixed feeling after impressive recovery drive in Malaysia

[p]After rain delayed ‌the start of the race by more than 90 minutes, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Hamilton[/a] was one of the few drivers who switched ‌from intermediate tyres to slicks on a track that was still drying.[/p][p]The Briton ‌had a slow start and then found himself going backwards, falling as low as 18th, but he ‌opted to stick with his strategy despite Ferrari calling him back into the ‌pits for a tyre change.[/p][p]Hamilton then carved his way through the field as the track dried up while safety cars also came to his rescue, with the veteran eventually overtaking Red Bull's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hadjar-isack/8SAk38Ui/"]Isack Hadjar[/a] in the ‌dying stages to secure a podium behind [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verstappen-max/UV3mgeXB/"]Max Verstappen[/a] and ⁠Kimi [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Antonelli[/a].[/p][p][b]"As a team, we ended up ‌taking that soft (tyre) and at the end of the pit lane, these two (Verstappen and Antonelli) took off ​their (tyre) blankets and my heart just sank, because I knew straight away that we were in trouble,"[/b] Hamilton told reporters.[/p][p]"As we pulled out, all the spray came ​out the back of Max's car and I was like, 'Okay, I'm done. My race is really in trouble'.[/p][p][b]"We made the decision to live with it. As everyone was overtaking ⁠me, they (Ferrari) said, 'Should we stop?' I ​said, 'No, we've already waited another 26 seconds. What's the difference?"[/b][/p][embed guid="c728594f-5a5e-4782-a2ac-417ec87f47a5" url="https://x.com/F1/status/2106692023449268716" social-type="twitter" /][p]But as the track dried and safety car deployments played into his hands, Hamilton began a remarkable recovery drive as he gave Hadjar chase for fourth place, before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]George Russell[/a]'s retirement gave him a shot at a podium.[/p][p][b]"I ‌just waited for the track to dry and once it did, it felt good that I was catching people. The car felt great. Then after that, really good pit stops from my guys in the garage," [/b]Hamilton added.[/p][p]"And then a good strategy. So for us to get back to the podium, I never thought that that's what was going to be the case. I'm really, really grateful."[/p][p]His teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leclerc-charles/KlCOSRub/"]Charles Leclerc[/a] also salvaged fourth place for Ferrari and he conceded that was the best they could have achieved considering how much faster Red Bull and Mercedes were.[/p][p][b]"Honestly, the first part of the race, everything that could have ‌gone wrong went wrong. And on the second part, everything that could have gone right ​went our wa[/b]y," Leclerc said.[/p][embed guid="8dce3801-a4f4-4d23-aaa1-646951088e79" url="https://x.com/ScuderiaFerrari/status/2106708542413529305" social-type="twitter" /][p]"So at the end of the day, I prefer ‌it that way than the other way around. We were P4 today and I honestly think that with a normal race we would have finished P3 and P4. The two guys in front were just way too quick for us.[/p][p][b]"Lewis had quite a good pace. I struggled a lot with the car, which we're looking into. ⁠I had a good feeling on Friday, good ⁠feeling until Q2, and then Q3 ‌I started to lose out. Today the race was very tricky."[/b][/p]