Lewis Hamilton has lamented a “pretty terrible” Japanese Grand Prix as he missed a podium place in the late stages of Sunday’s race to finish sixth.
Hamilton benefited from a safety car during the race and overtook George Russell for third on the restart, but could not stop the Mercedes and his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclercq.
Lando Norris passed Hamilton late on as the seven-time world champion struggled to get up to speed and saw the checkered flag in sixth, the same position he started.
“Ultimately I was P3 and it was very scary because I ended up falling back. I have to understand where I was losing all my strength,” he said. Sky Sports F1.
“Especially in the second round, I really didn’t have enough strength, and I couldn’t catch up with the people at the beginning because I didn’t have enough strength.
“I don’t understand. I’m pumping gas, I’m taking care of where I need to be, and for some reason I’m running out of power, so I have to figure out if there’s something wrong with the car or not. Still, I get a few points.”
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2026 Japanese Grand Prix Highlights
It was Hamilton’s most demanding weekend to date after finishing fourth in Australia and taking his first Ferrari podium at the Chinese Grand Prix.
But the 41-year-old shadowed team-mate Leclerc at Suzuka all weekend and was left confused by his lack of pace.
“I loved being in Japan and generally enjoyed the driving. Like I said, I really tried to understand,” he said.
“I had a really good time managing the tires, but I just didn’t have the speed to keep up. And it’s never fun when you’re barely holding the pack. And when I got new tires, I still couldn’t do it.
“I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get ahead of the people in terms of power. It was really confusing. You have to understand.”
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Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton avoided a collision after a narrow overtake at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Leclerc: Mercedes still has a ‘big advantage’
Leclerc took first place in a thrilling battle with Russell and Hamilton, bouncing back from his Safety Car loss to remain third in the Drivers’ Championship, 23 points behind Kimi Antonelli.
Despite the close race, Leclerc finished less than two seconds behind second-place Piastri, earning his first podium finish of the season.
“Second place was probably in the cards, but I think we extracted the most we could,” Leclerc said.
“We were unlucky with the safety car. Oscar had a little bit of air to breathe and probably would have been a little better with his tires. I had to push straight away, which was a little tricky.
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Sky Sports F1’s Simon Lazenby sits down with Charles Leclerc as he looks back on his first podium of the 2026 season and shares why he thinks winning the championship is closer than ever.
“I don’t have any regrets. I still think it was a good race. Are we as fast as Mercedes? I don’t think so. They still have a big advantage. It’s up to us to try to turn things around.”
He added: “The Mercedes power unit has a huge advantage over us at the moment, that is the focus but we must not forget that there are big gains to be made in developing the chassis, aerodynamics and putting the tires in the right window.
“You can’t change the engine anyway, but in the meantime you have to improve everything around the car.”
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