Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has suggested not all Formula 1 drivers have the same approach regarding wet-weather racing, with youngsters becoming “more and more cautious”.
After drops of rain on several occasions, Sepang marked the first significant competitive running for F1’s new-for-2026 machinery this season, as a downpour soaked the track shortly before the race was scheduled to start.
The start was delayed by 40 minutes due to the adverse weather conditions, after which all cars were fitted with intermediate tyres rather than full-wets – and a number of them suffered a now infamous software glitch.
“Wet-weather races aren’t the same as we used to have, for sure,” 41-year-old Hamilton commented. “I’ve had great races, 2008 in the rain – we ultimately back then had more testing, we did have better tyres for the rain, because we were able to, I guess, develop more with Bridgestone back in the day.
“I love racing in the rain, personally. I do think the guys running the show are far more cautious, but then again, the young drivers coming in are more and more cautious. Us old-school drivers are like, ‘Let’s get racing’, and more of the youngsters are like, ‘Let’s not race’. So they’re getting two different bits of information, and they are super cautious as well.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
“So that’s where I’m like, ‘Let’s get going’, under extreme conditions. Because that’s where we really get to test ourselves. Is it more risky? Absolutely.
“When I was out on the slick tyre [in Malaysia], it was in the trickiest conditions as well, but I love that challenge. And that’s what racing is, where you have to drive at the seat of the pants, and that’s really where you can make the difference. And ultimately, that’s where I did make the difference in the rain.”
Carlos Sainz personally reckons race direction’s timing was perfect in Malaysia.
“From my side, the time that the FIA went and gave the green light to go racing for me was correct given how much it was raining,” the 32-year-old Spaniard said. “I think we all agreed it was raining too much to go racing.
“And the time that they gave the green light to go racing was the perfect one – or the correct one. We just tried and we failed, but not because we didn’t want to race in the wet, it’s because some external factor like the software failed. But if it rains, I welcome the rain and it actually gives me a better chance of doing something this weekend.”
Having run off into the gravel on the formation lap, Hadjar said the new power units, which are heavy on electrical energy, didn’t make it easy to drive in the wet.
“There’s two issues,” the 22-year-old Frenchman said of his error. “There’s the software issue, where you don’t actually know when the power is going to kick in, and the rain, it’s not ideal; also it just seemed like the inter tyres, they can’t really take any standing water. So the track at the maximum needs to be just wet and consistent.
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images
“But that’s not how I grew up – for me, you put wet tyres on a wet track and you just drive; and now it’s hard, it’s like, ‘I have to avoid this patch’, all this. You just need better.”
The problem with full-wet tyres is they typically aren’t as competitive as intermediates, and conditions where they would actually be useful tend to be deemed too wet for racing.
As far as the software issue is concerned, not everyone agrees that it’s that big a deal. “It’s a lot easier than I thought because you can control the amount of kilowatts you get – what sort of kick you get,” said 36-year-old Sergio Perez, who drives a Ferrari-powered Cadillac while Hadjar has a Red Bull Ford powertrain.
“So basically it’s like in the road, you’re basically controlling how much you want, so it’s up to the driver to decide how much you are able to take on the kick. You can go from 350kW to 250kW, 200kW.”
Wet-weather racing may be a topic once again this weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix, with a small but not insignificant chance of rain throughout the event.
Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren, Ronald Vording and Jake Boxall-Legge
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