Lewis Hamilton discussed the struggles faced at the Japanese Grand Prix, pointing to tyre degradation challenges and car damage early on from a clash with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Mercedes driver’s confidence seemed to falter as he navigated the Suzuka circuit with a compromised vehicle.

Key Takeaways:

Hamilton admitted to facing significant challenges with the car’s performance, especially due to damage sustained early in the race, which led to a notable understeer.

Despite pondering alternative strategies, Hamilton concluded that the issues with the hard tyres were insurmountable, casting doubt on their strategic choices.

The Mercedes driver reflected on the hindsight wisdom of potentially adopting Ferrari and Red Bull’s tyre strategies but lamented the overall disappointing performance of his car.

Lewis Hamilton, amidst the backdrop of the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix, opened up about the difficulties he struggled with during the race, specifically highlighting the problematic aspects of Mercedes’ strategy and the condition of his car. Following a challenging day at the iconic Suzuka circuit, where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed victory, Hamilton’s reflections won’t be giving Mercedes fans any confidence.

The driver was asked by Sky Sports whether, if Mercedes had chosen another strategy, if he could have pushed any further up the grid.

“Nothing, I don’t think. Uh, there was no – I don’t know what the different strategy would have been. Whether it was a mistake staying on the medium to start with, but we still had two really terrible hard tyres to run through,” he admitted.

“So, um, yeah. Yeah, a real challenge today. I think I picked up a bit of damage at the beginning when Charles [Leclerc] came around the outside and had a huge understeer for the first stint. I couldn’t turn the car through any of the corners, that’s why I let George by,” Hamilton explained when questioned about the potential outcomes of adopting a different strategy.

Further probing on whether Mercedes should have mirrored Ferrari and Red Bull’s tyre choices elicited a thoughtful reflection from Hamilton on the day’s challenges.

“The hard tyre was pretty bad. As I said, uh, the medium tyre was much better, so yeah, for sure. In hindsight, it looks like we should have had two medium tyres. But in general, the car just, it was pretty bad today,” he remarked.

The Japanese Grand Prix was fraught with incidents, from Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo’s early exit due to a Lap 1 collision to various drivers experiencing difficulties with their tyres and differing levels of deg.