Lewis Hamilton did not experience the dream start at Ferrari that the tifosi had particularly hoped for. The seven-time world champion even found himself in no man’s land during the Grand Prix at Suzuka. The Ferrari driver did provide the only real overtaking move in the race, snatching seventh place from rookie Isack Hadjar, but saw his old team Mercedes pull away from him.
Ferrari’s woes were not alleviated at Suzuka either. The Scuderia are experiencing their worst season start in a long time, and once again in Japan, they could not pose a real threat to the other top teams. Charles Leclerc crossed the finish line sixteen seconds behind winner Max Verstappen in fourth place, while Lewis Hamilton could not climb higher than seventh place, behind the Mercedes.
Faster Mercedes
“The Mercedes are faster than us,” Hamilton concludes after the race. “That’s why they could get so close to Charles.” George Russell finished with a comfortable second behind in fifth place behind the Monegasque. Kimi Antonelli followed in sixth place. The seven-time world champion saw his Mercedes successor disappear on the horizon.
“When I was driving behind Antonelli, he was just so much faster on some parts of the circuit. I just couldn’t keep up with him. I really got the most out of my car today. There was nothing more in it.” Like Oscar Piastri, Hamilton believes that the final race result was actually determined in the qualifying on Saturday. “Given the performance of the back of the car, the qualifying position was crucial. I think I would probably have been overtaken by the Mercedes if I had started further forward.”
