Lewis Hamilton pinpoints where Ferrari is “just not quick enough” at F1 Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton says that his Ferrari Formula 1 team is “just not quick enough at the moment” after a disappointing Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Ferrari SF-26 looked tricky to drive in the hands of both Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc, with the seven-time world champion noting at one stage that he lacked confidence with it.

Hamilton finished FP2 in P6 and 0.847 seconds off the pace-setting McLaren of Oscar Piastri, with Leclerc just ahead of him in the pecking order.

“I think it’s something similar that we’ve experienced before here,” said Hamilton when asked about the car’s behaviour.

“It’s an amazing circuit. The car generally feels okay. It’s just not quick enough at the moment, and I think it’s just balance. We’ve just got to work hard overnight to try and figure out how we can set the car up better.”

Asked if he thought that Ferrari could get closer on Saturday he said: “Difficult to say. I mean ultimately, there’s a lot of time on the straights – it’s four-tenths into Turn 1 at the moment compared to the McLaren.

“So deployment is part of it, so I’m sure we can do a better job in improving on that. And then I think there’s more performance in the car to extract if we can get the setup right.”

While Hamilton had been a fan of the 2026 rules he conceded that it was less fun to juggle energy management at Suzuka.

“Super clipping is definitely not great,” he said. “It’s not great that we have to super clip. You arrive in some places and you’re kind of coasting in, because you’ve got no power.

“That’s probably the least enjoyable part of the rule change for this circuit. But otherwise, the car feels really good through the sections, and it’s still awesome to drive.”

Meanwhile Ferrari sporting director Diego Ioverno suggested that Friday’s form was not a surprise.

“I think the gap is more or less where we expect it to be,” he said. “Also quite in line with the first two races, especially in the short runs, let me say. Nevertheless, we have to try to improve.

“We do what we can do, analysing data and trying to fix small issues that we have with the car management, the drivers are not fully happy and so on. I think you heard Lewis complaining about the lack of confidence.

“The track is difficult, a new surface on the second part. The key factor would be to make sure the tyres are working from the first lap.”