Lewis Hamilton makes worrying ‘underperforming’ admission after Ferrari star’s disappointing seventh-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix
Life in red is proving to be far from a dream for Lewis Hamilton, who said he wants to figure out why his car is underperforming in comparison to his Ferrari team-mate, Charles Leclerc.
A poor qualifying session on Saturday left the seven-time world champion with a mountain to climb on raceday at Suzuka.
Starting from eighth, Hamilton was at least one of the few drivers to complete an overtake, passing Isack Hadjar of the Racing Bulls in the opening stages.
But that was as promising as the afternoon got for Hamilton. He finished three places behind Leclerc in seventh, meaning he has been outperformed by his new team-mate in both of the races they have completed this season.
‘Happy I moved forwards,’ said Hamilton, who was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix having earlier claimed a surprise sprint race victory in Shanghai. ‘I’m really hoping the next race we’ll see some positive changes.
‘Through the first three races there’s been a bit of a deficit between both sides of the garage.
Lewis Hamilton admitted that there has been a ‘deficit’ in performances between himself and Charles Leclerc
Leclerc has outperformed his team-mate in both of the races they have completed this season
Ferrari are 76 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings after just three grands prix
‘On my side something is underperforming, so it’s good to know. With what I had, it was the best result I could get.’
Both Ferrari drivers were involved in more tetchy conversations over the team radio in Japan, where Max Verstappen held his nerve to claim victory from pole position.
As he sought answers for his lack of pace, Hamilton was clearly frustrated by the lack of detail he was receiving from Riccardo Adami, his new race engineer.
The Brit was also annoyed by suggestions of early teething problems when asked about similar exchanges during the season opener in Melbourne.
Attention will only turn away from radio messages and back onto matters on the track if results start picking up for Hamilton. He admitted his team have ground to make up at next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
‘It will definitely be interesting, for sure,’ said the 40-year-old. ‘I hope we’ll be a little bit closer, we’re probably the fourth fastest clearly at the moment and I think we’re definitely a little bit off the other guys. We’ve got some work to do to close the gap.’
