‘Not a good sign’ for Ferrari spotted from Lewis Hamilton on-board
Another concern for Ferrari flagged from Lewis Hamilton's onboard footage in Japan.
A potential problem for Ferrari has been spotted from onboard footage of Lewis Hamilton during the F1 Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
Hamilton’s mixed start to life at Ferrari continued at the third round of the season in Japan with the seven-time world champion only able to qualify eighth, before finishing seventh in Sunday’s grand prix.
During Sky Sports F1’s coverage of qualifying, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve noticed something concerning about Hamilton’s SF-25.
Commentator David Croft noted: “Looking at the Ferrari, it’s not got the most stable rear end I would have thought.”
To which, Villeneuve responded: “I was about to say, the Ferrari slides a fair amount.
“We’re looking at the Ferrari, it’s moving around, sliding around, heating up the tyres. That’s not a good sign for the longer run.
“You could also tell that [George] Russell had a much tighter line. He would back off a bit so that he could have a tighter exit and get on the gas better.”
Lewis Hamilton highlights issue with Ferrari car
Following the race, Hamilton revealed an element on his Ferrari car is “underperforming” compared to teammate Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc enjoyed a better weekend, qualifying and finishing fourth at Suzuka. The Monegasque outpaced Hamilton by three tenths of a second and was 13 seconds clear of Hamilton in the race.
"I did the best I could today. I was genuinely lacking performance compared to the cars ahead of me," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
"We found something on the car that was underperforming for the last three races so I am hoping when that is fixed that I will start getting better results. I'm losing just over a tenth a lap with this issue we have. I'm hoping by the next race it's fixed.”
Ferrari are rumoured to have an “inherent” problem with their 2025 challenger and are not running the car as low as they ideally want.
The Italian team were well off the pace at the season-opener in Australia, while both drivers were disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s exclusion in Shanghai was due to excessive plank wear on his Ferrari.
"They [the team] are aware of it and don't know why [it is happening]. When a new component comes, hopefully it will be gone and be the same on both cars," Hamilton added.
"I'm relatively happy with the race pace I had, with what I did have. Otherwise a good performance from the team and they did a good job. Onwards and upwards."
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