Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that Ferrari have found an issue with their car but is hopeful of a remedy for the next race in Bahrain.
The seven-time F1 world champion, who qualified eighth on the grid, finished the Japanese Grand Prix in seventh after a largely uneventful race at Suzuka.
With teammate Charles Leclerc finishing fourth, Ferrari are still short of pace compared to frontrunners McLaren, as well as Mercedes and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull car. The Dutchman claimed victory on Sunday, ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Yet looking ahead to the next race in Bahrain, 40-year-old Hamilton confirmed Ferrari have found an “underperforming” component of the car which they are looking to fix.
“I did the best I could today, I was generally lacking performance compared to the cars ahead of me, especially Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“We’ve found something on the car which is underperforming, so if that’s fixed… I’m losing over a tenth a lap. Qualifying is clearly really important.”
Pressed further on the issue, amid paddock whispers it’s focused on the rear of the car, Hamilton added: “They’re [the team] aware of it, they don’t know why [it’s happening.]
“When the new component comes, hopefully it will be gone. I’m relatively happy with the race-pace I had, good performance for the team, myself and Ricciardo [Adami, race engineer] did a great job, onwards and upwards.”
Hamilton is now eighth in the championship standings, 47 points off leader Lando Norris after three rounds.
“I’m really hoping in the next race we’ll see hopefully some positive changes,” Hamilton said.
“Through the first three races there’s been a bit of a deficit between both sides of the garage on some elements of the car.
“On my side, underperforming. So it’s good to know.”
Leclerc, meanwhile, also raised concerns with the general pace of the SF-25 after the first three races of the season.
“There wasn’t anything more in the car… but it’s even more disappointing when you do everything you can and you finish fourth,” he said.
“The positive is we maximised the weekend, the negative is we didn’t have the pace.
“I’m confident for the rest of the year I can maximise the car, but if it’s P4 it’s not great.”
