Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he suffered from “a lot of understeer” during qualifying in Japan.
Ferrari is looking to turn things around after a disastrous Chinese Grand Prix where both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified – the former for excessive plank wear and the latter for not reaching the minimum weight after a single-stop race.
The team released the following statement at the time:
“Following the FIA post-race scrutineering both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons,” Ferrari said following the confirmation of both disqualifications.
“Car 16 was found to be underweight by 1kg and car 44’s rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5mm below the limit. Charles [Leclerc] was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight.
“With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin. There was no intention to gain any advantage. We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.
“Clearly, it’s not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Toshifumi Kitamura – AFP – Getty Images
As a result of this, the Maranello outfit has been forced to increase the ride height to avoid a similar fate. Speaking to the media about his P8 qualifying result, the British driver explained:
“Not good enough from my side. P8 is not great. We are running higher than I would like but everyone is in the same boat.
“Charles [Leclerc] did an amazing job. We went in different directions with set-up. I had a lot of understeer and just couldn’t dial it up.”
The race at the iconic Suzuka Circuit sees the threat of rain, something that Hamilton is hopeful for. He added:
“I genuinely love the rain so I hope it comes tomorrow after a qualifying like that.”
Leclerc will start the Japanese Grand Prix from the second row with a fourth-place start. Speaking about the car changes, the Monegasque driver also commented:
“We have got some other issues, not particularly with the ride height of the car. I can’t go too much into detail.
“To go back to yesterday, we really found something from my driving style that seems to work a bit better and gave me a lot more confidence for the rest of qualifying and this is positive for the rest of the season.”
“The other issues might take a bit longer.”
Max Verstappen secured pole position with Red Bull and will be joined on the front row by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
