TYRED AND EMOTIONAL
Hard going for Hamilton as Red Bull keep their grip on title race
LEWIS HAMILTON lamented his “terrible” hard tyres as a Mercedes strategy gamble failed to deliver at Suzuka.
Hamilton finished a lowly ninth in Japan, while George Russell fared only slightly better to cross the line seventh.
Mercedes gambled on the hard tyres when the race was stopped after a first-lap smash involving Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon.
Meanwhile, his future Ferrari team put Charles Leclerc on the mediums and he flew while the Britons struggled.
Hamilton demanded Mercedes change tack over the radio, but it was too late to do anything about it.
And while they limped to the finish line, Ferrari took the podium with Carlos Sainz behind race-winner Max Verstappen (inset) and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, while Leclerc finished fourth.
Hamilton said: “There were two really terrible (sets of ) hard tyres to run through. It was a challenge today.
“I think I picked up a bit of damage at the beginning when Charles came around the outside. I had huge understeer for the first stint and couldn’t turn the car.
“The hard tyre was pretty bad and the medium was much better. In hindsight, we should have kept two medium tyres, but in general the car was pretty bad today.”
Boss Toto Wolff felt it was those early laps which derailed his team’s chances of scoring big points in round four of the season.
He said: “The second and third stints were super quick. We would have been racing for a podium, but for an atrocious first stint. We need to find out what it was.”
Sainz began the race fourth behind Briton Lando Norris and was always in the hunt for a third successive podium.
Norris tried his best but admitted his Mclaren simply doesn’t have the pace right now to go toe-to-toe with the Ferraris.
He said: “It was a tough race. It doesn’t feel great when you start third and just go backwards.
“I was fighting a losing battle against these guys because they can do a lot more. It’s hard to fight on a track like this, but we gave it a good shot.”
Sainz was delighted to take advantage thanks to a “perfect” race, while team-mate Leclerc hopes Ferrari can challenge Red Bull later in the year.
But he admitted that seems “optimistic” right now, especially given Verstappen finished 20 seconds ahead of the Ferraris despite nursing his tyres throughout the race.
The defending champion, who has won three of the four races so far in 2024, said: “We’re having a great start to the year.
“There will be tracks that are worse for us, but we’ll keep working to improve our car and learn more, and I’m sure we can do even better.”