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.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc and168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: 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.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen also initially stayed out but was quickly called in to box for wets by his 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Red Bull team.

Hamilton and Leclerc briefly ran first and second before being overtaken by168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Lando Norris, who had switched onto inters, and looked to be in podiu🍰m 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 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Gabriel Bortoleto and168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Liam Lawson.

Leclerc and Hamilton subsequently dropped to nไinth 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 sam🎐e 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 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri on the final lap. 

Ferrari communication under the spotlight

Ferrari’s drivers appeared to receive conflicting messages ꧙about 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 with๊ 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 ꦅover team radio𒁃.

Vass⛄eur was asked about the apparent confusion at Ferrari.

"Yes, but this is very diಌfficult 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 fro꧃m 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 debat𓂃e to stay on track with the slicks and to survive, but it was the wrong call.”