Ferrari just pulled the exact opposite of their Malaysia 2009 strategy, and the symmetry is kind of crazy.
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I was re-watching the race from this weekend, and it hit me how perfectly this mirrors one of the most famous moments in F1 history. Ferrari just completed a perfect, 180-degree throwback to their 2009 tire gamble—just in the exact opposite direction.
For anyone who remembers Malaysia 2009, the radar showed a massive monsoon approaching. Ferrari decided to jump the gun and boxed Kimi for full wets while the track was still completely bone-dry. He had to drive around on baking hot asphalt, destroying the tread while looking for puddles that didn't exist yet, right before we got that iconic shot of him eating an ice cream in the paddock.
Fast forward to 2026, and we got the exact inverse scenario.
This time, the skies actually opened up, the track was completely soaked, and the rest of the grid dove into the pits for inters or wets. But instead of jumping the gun like in 2009, Ferrari did the complete opposite: they kept the cars out on dry slicks in a literal downpour. The drivers were out there tiptoeing around an ice rink on bald tires, trying to survive standing water while hoping the weather would magically pass.
* 2009: Full wet tires on a completely dry track.
* 2026: Dry slicks on a completely flooded track.
It’s honestly fascinating.
17 years apart, entirely different eras, different drivers, and different pit walls, but they managed to perfectly mirror the history books. It is the ultimate Ferrari strategy throwback.