Lewis Hamilton described the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka as “pretty terrible” after slipping away from a podium position and finishing sixth. Hamilton had been running third after a mid-race Safety Car and a restart, but he fell back as the race progressed and could not hold off rivals, ultimately crossing the line in the same sixth spot he had started from.
Hamilton said he struggled with a mysterious lack of power, especially in the second stint. “I was P3 and I ended up going backwards. I just need to understand where I was losing all the power,” he told Sky Sports F1. He added that even on fresh tyres he couldn’t match others’ pace: “I’m full gas, managing where I’m asked to manage and for some reason just lacking power, so I need to figure out if there’s something wrong with the car or not. Still, we got some points.”
Late in the race Hamilton also lost places to Lando Norris as the pace dropped off, making it one of his tougher weekends since joining Ferrari. Earlier in the season he had taken fourth in Australia and his first Ferrari podium in China, but at Suzuka he trailed team-mate Charles Leclerc across the weekend and admitted to being confused by his sudden deficit: “I had a really good stint of managing the tyres and then just didn’t have the pace to keep up. When I got the fresh tyres, I still couldn’t. Just power-wise, I couldn’t stay ahead of people, which was really confusing. I need to understand.”
Charles Leclerc recovered well after losing out during the Safety Car phase, using a restart overtake on George Russell and then fending off close battles with Russell and Hamilton to finish third. That result moved Leclerc to third in the Drivers’ Championship, 23 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli. Leclerc finished less than two seconds behind second-placed Oscar Piastri, who took his first podium of the season.
“Second place was maybe on the cards but I think we extracted the maximum we could,” Leclerc said, reflecting on the Safety Car’s impact. He suggested the safety car allowed Piastri a little breathing room and easier tyre management, while Leclerc had to push immediately.
On the broader performance picture, Leclerc acknowledged Mercedes still hold a significant advantage: “Are we as fast as the Mercedes? I don’t think so. They still have a big advantage. It’s up to us to try and change that situation. The Mercedes power units have a big advantage over us at the moment. This is a focus but we must not forget that there are huge gains in developing the chassis, the aerodynamics, putting the tyres in the right window. The engine we can’t change anyway but in the mean time we need to improve everything around the car.”
F1 now turns its attention to the Miami Grand Prix, which takes place May 1-3 and will be the season’s second Sprint weekend.