Lewis Hamilton revealed that one element on his Ferrari car “she did not perform well” after his disappointing race weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix, compared to teammate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton finished eighth and seventh in a lonely race Sunday after the early overtakes of the Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.

Meanwhile, Leclerc scored a fourth second in front of Hamilton with three-tenths of the pace in front of Hamilton.

Hamilton told Hamilton: “I tried my best today. Sky Sports F1.

“We’ve found some cars that have been underperforming in the last three games, so I hope when fixed I will start to get better results. I’ve lost three out of ten on this issue. I hope the next game is fixed.”

In Hamilton and Leclerc both were disqualified for excessive board wear and Leclerc for his car’s underweight, Ferrari didn’t have the same low car as the Chinese Grand Prix.

The current generation of F1 cars means that the fleet wants to run the car as low as possible for downforce and performance.

However, running a car that is too low means the risk of grinding out the boards under the car and disqualifying it. Whether this is related to the part Hamilton is talking about is unclear.

“They (the team) realize this and don’t know why (it’s happening). When new components arrive, hopefully both cars will disappear and be the same,” he said.

“I’m relatively happy with my pace of the game. Otherwise I’ve performed well and they did a great job.

Hamilton added in written media: “I really hope there will be some positive changes in the next game. There will be some deficits on the car elements between the sides of the garage in the first three games.

“On my side, it’s not doing well. It’s nice to know that what I have is the best result.”

Leclerc: I’m heading in a specific direction with my driving style

After just three games, Ferrari has already lagged McLaren 76 points in the Builders Championship.

In the winter, there is a lot of optimism about where people will continue to leave in 2024, and on the tail of McLaren, Leclerc is disappointed that they are not closer, but what he is advised to do is more competitive with Hamilton.

He told him, “Not in the car.” Sky Sports F1.

“As a team, we do a great job of balancing and strategy to optimize results, but it’s even more disappointing when you do everything perfectly and finish P4, and your minimum for the guys ahead is two-thirds.

“The first appointment was pretty good, but then we lost some performance. The positive thing was that we maximized the weekend but the speed was not there.

“I’m heading in a specific direction with my driving style and I feel that this will help me maximize the car. This still needs to be confirmed, but I’m looking forward to Bahrain to see if this works for me.

“If I do that, I’m confident in the rest of the year, I can maximize the car, but if that means we’re P4, that’s not great. I’m hoping for more performance, but we should have something soon.”

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