Lewis Hamilton points out differences between his car and that of Charles Leclerc

On the side of Lewis Hamilton, Japan continued an up-and-down start for the Briton with his new team. Still in the acclimatisation period, the seven-time world champion had a solitary race. Qualifying eighth, he quickly overtook Isack Hadjar's Racing Bulls but was unable to compete with the other single-seaters ahead of him. He finished seventh in the third round of the year, his best performance in red, excluding Sprint.

If the Ferrari SF-25 is not yet able to conquer the outposts against the McLaren, it's mainly a comparison with his teammate Charles Leclerc which Lewis Hamilton is suffering from. The Englishman was largely dominated by the Monegasque throughout the weekend since number 16 finished just off the podium, thirteen seconds ahead of the Briton, making the most of what his single-seater could offerTo explain this gap, Lewis Hamilton cited a difference between the two Scuderia cars.

« I really hope that in the next round there will be some positive changes. In the first three races there was a slight deficit between the two sides of the garage on one element of my car, Lewis Hamilton confessed after the race, while remaining evasive. The team is aware of this difference but is unable to explain it. When the updates arrive, I hope this will be resolved and the gap between the two cars will disappear."

In view of this revealed problem, the Englishman is satisfied with his seventh place, considered as the maximum achievable. I did my best today. I was really lacking pace compared to the cars in front of me.. With what I had, it was the best possible result."

Still a size problem 

Since the start of the season, the Ferrari has suffered from a ride height that's difficult to adjust. Due to the ground effect used by current single-seaters, the lower the cars are, the better they perform. The problem is that the SF-25, set low to the ground, rubs the asphalt at high speeds and wears its skid plate, causing it to fall below the permitted thickness. This process was also the reason for the disqualification of car number 44 in China.

In order to guard against a similar blunder, Ferrari is forced to raise its car, causing him to lose valuable lap time, because in Formula 1, ride height and performance don't mix. Yes, we are higher than we would like, explained the Stevenage native to the microphone of Sky Sports following qualifying at the Suzuka circuit.

In response to this inconvenience of the SF-25, new parts should be brought in soon. « We detected a problem with the car that hasn't been performing well for three races, so hopefully when that's sorted out I'll start getting better results," hopes Lewis Hamilton.

A new floor could be introduced in Bahrain to address the SF-25's weaknesses, enough to put Ferrari back in the game? The answers won't be long in coming, as Formula 1 is coming to Sakhir (Bahrain) this weekend, from April 11th to 13th.

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