Formula 1 superstar Lewis Hamilton had to settle for sixth place at the Japanese Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver was puzzled after the race.
“Pretty bad in the end, because I was in P3 and in the end I ended up in P6. I just have to understand where we lost the power, especially in the second stint,” said Hamilton, assessing his race in Suzuka to “Sky”.
While Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc came third in Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli’s victory, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion had to watch the award ceremony as a spectator.
Hamilton still sees room for improvement when dealing with the new rules. “I don’t understand it exactly. I’m fully on the gas, managing in the places where they say I should manage it. Today there was just a bit of a lack of performance, so yes, there are still a few points to work on,” explained the 41-year-old.
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Hamilton and Leclerc can soon look forward to upgrades, although Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur told “Sky”: “Please don’t misinterpret my announcements: Everyone will have upgrades, everyone will have changed their car. Everything will change, it will be a new season.”
The Frenchman added: “We didn’t achieve everything in the first races – also because of the budget limit. From now on everyone will push. The most important thing is the teams’ capacity to bring new upgrades.”
Ferrari (90 points) is in second place in the Formula 1 team rankings after the first three races behind Mercedes (135).
“It was a good stint, good duels and in the end a good result for us. We know that we have a performance deficit and we have to improve. But of course, I would rather have the cars in P3 and P4 than in P3 and P10. The goal was to cross the finish line ahead of Russell and we succeeded,” Vasseur commented on the race in Suzuka. Leclerc had pushed past Hamilton on the 42nd lap.
