Confused Lewis Hamilton singles out major Ferrari issue

Lewis Hamilton is committed to understanding why his Ferrari was so down on power during the recent Japanese Grand Prix.

The seven-time F1 drivers' champion started sixth at Suzuka, before rising as high as third place when he took advantage of the Oliver Bearman-induced safety car, but was powerless to prevent slipping back to his starting position by the chequered flag.

Perplexed by the mystifying lack of performance from his SF-26, Hamilton vowed to get to the bottom of it before the Miami Grand Prix, which brings F1's five-week spring break to a close in early May.

"Pretty average weekend for me," the British driver told media, including RacingNews365.

"I just struggled with power in the race; for some reason, I was just down.

"I was defending the whole time; the guys all around me seemed to have more power, so I need to try and understand why that is the case, whether my engine is down or what, I need to understand."

Hamilton found lacking power 'really confusing'

Charles Leclerc fared better, taking a third consecutive podium to open the campaign. The team-mates went wheel-to-wheel as the Monégasque driver fought his way past, but Hamilton felt it was "not really a great battle" due to his power unit issues.

"Even, somehow, Charles had more power than me in the same car," the 105-time grand prix winner said. "So I need to understand why that is.

"He did a good job to get to third place. But, yeah, lacking power from somewhere."

Whilst it was not all bad news for Hamilton, he confessed to finding the situation "really confusing" afterwards.

"I had a really good stint of managing the tyres and then just couldn't — I didn't have the pace to just keep up," he explained. "It's never fun when you're just barely holding on to a pack.

"And then, when I got the fresh tyres, I still couldn't; just power-wise, just couldn't stay ahead of people, which was really confusing, so I need to try to understand."