Lewis Hamilton faced a complicated start to the Japanese Grand Prix weekend in Formula 1, and admitted a lack of confidence in the Ferrari after the first two free practice sessions. The British driver finished outside the top five in both FP1 and FP2 and acknowledged difficulties in extracting performance from the car at Suzuka.
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After a positive start to the 2026 season, the results of the Suzuka practice sessions marked the first clear obstacle for Hamilton this year. The seven-time champion comes off a podium finish in P3 at the previous round, but encountered difficulties on the demanding Japanese circuit, even comparing the feeling to what he faced last year with the Scuderia car.
On Friday, Hamilton finished in sixth place in both sessions, just behind his teammate Charles Leclerc. In a radio message to his engineer, the British driver made his main concern about the car clear: “I’m very slow because I don’t have confidence in the car,” Hamilton stated.
After getting out of the car, the Ferrari driver again commented on the difficulties faced on the Japanese circuit. He explained that Suzuka demands a precise balance and highlighted that they are still seeking the best setup for the car: “It’s just the characteristic of this track, it’s an extremely demanding circuit. It’s incredible to drive, but getting the right balance, I think that’s something related to how this car is configured,” Hamilton said.
“There are some similarities with what I felt with the car last year. We’re working on it, so I’m confident that during the night we can find something and put it in a better situation,” the British driver stated.
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Hamilton also highlighted that confidence in the rear of the car is essential to extract maximum performance at Suzuka. According to him, the unstable behavior made it difficult for him to adapt throughout the day: “It’s an incredible circuit, but you need to trust the rear and feel comfortable that it will follow you, and today I had some lock-ups. I can’t match the others. We’ll do a deep analysis tonight, get some interesting readings from the simulator, but I feel like I have a direction to follow, we just need to figure out how to get there.”
The British driver also demonstrated optimism by stating that there is potential in the car, but the team needs to find a way to exploit it: “There’s more potential in the car, we just need to figure out how to unlock it. That’s what we need to focus on,” he added.
Leclerc, who finished one position ahead of Hamilton in both sessions, also acknowledged that it was a complicated day for Ferrari: “It was a more difficult day for us as a team, compared to the last two races, but it’s just the first day of the weekend,” said the Monegasque.
He also highlighted that the race pace seems positive, but admitted that there is still a gap to the leaders: “Our race pace looks good so far, although there is still a difference to the leaders. Our focus now will be to work on qualifying performance for tomorrow,” Leclerc concluded.
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