Lewis Hamilton has sounded a warning over Ferrari’s chances at the Japanese Grand Prix by sharing his dissatisfaction with his car.
After a promising start to the 2026 F1 campaign, Hamilton vented his frustration during practice at Suzuka, highlighting the SF-26’s potential.
Oscar Piastri, yet to complete a lap in a grand prix after a crash in Melbourne and a power unit issue preventing him and McLaren teammate Lando Norris from starting the race in China, was fastest after FP2, with a +0.847 edge on Hamilton.
And Hamilton shared some concerning feedback with his team over the radio.
“I’m very slow because I’ve got no confidence in the car,” Hamilton said, before elaborating following the session.
“Well, I mean, we’ll work on it. I think it’s just the way of this track, you know. It’s a massively demanding circuit.
“It’s amazing to drive. But getting the right balance, and I think, interestingly, there’s something… I think it’s just something in how this car is set up. There’s kind of some similarities to what I felt last year, so we’re just working on that.”
“So I’m confident overnight we can find something and get it to a better place. But it’s an awesome circuit. But you need to be able to sit on the rear and be comfortable that it’s going to stay with you.
“And today I had the snaps. It just can’t seem to match the other guys. So I think we’ll do a deep dive tonight. We’ll get some interesting readings from the simulator.
“But I feel like I’ve got a bit of a north star. It’s just how do we get there? And so we’re going to try and figure that out.”
