"Really confusing" issue ended Lewis Hamilton's Japan F1 podium hopes

Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari has to get to the bottom of a “really confusing” lack of power that compromised him in the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion ran in sixth early on, and gained a couple of spots from team-mate Charles Leclerc and McLaren's Lando Norris by being able to pit under the safety car.

However, he was unable to keep them behind and, after a tussle with Leclerc, he fell back to his original position by the flag.

“It was ok, it was a really average weekend for me,” Lewis Hamilton said when asked by Crash.net about his race. “I just struggled with power in the race for some reason, I was just down.

“I was just defending the whole time. The guys around me just seemed to have more power today, so I need to understand why that is the case, whether my engine is down or what. I just need to understand it.”

He downplayed the brief reprise of the wheel-to-wheel action with Leclerc seen at the previous race in China.

“Not really a great battle,” he said. “Even Charles seemed to have more power than me in the same car. So we need to understand why that is. He did a good job to get to third place, But yeah, lacking power from somewhere.”

Hamilton has made clear that he has enjoyed the racing in 2026, and asked if this was the least enjoyable race thus far he said: “I’ve generally enjoyed driving.

"As I said, I just have to understand. I had a really good stint of managing the tyres, and I just didn’t have the pace to keep up. It’s never fun when you’re just barely holding onto a pack.

“And then when I got the fresh tyres, just power-wise, I just couldn’t stay ahead of people. It’s really confusing. So I need to try to understand.”

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur hinted that the issue was at least in part due to Hamilton losing overtake boost by being more than a second behind the car ahead, while those he was fighting still had it.

"What is clear this season is that as soon as you are not anymore into the overtake mode, you are losing a little bit the path,” said the Frenchman.

“And you have this situation to have a train on track, and when you lost the one-second gap on the car ahead, it was a bit more difficult.

“We know that we have a deficit of performance in the straight line, and that we have to work on it. But it is like it is.”