Mercedes have explained the strategy call that failed to pay off as Lewis Hamilton struggled to make an impact at the Japanese Grand Prix.

An early red flag, caused by a crash involving Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon on the first lap, presented teams with a strategy conundrum. They had the chance to change tyres and were tempted by the prospect of only having to stop once more if they could make the hard tyres last.

Mercedes chose to take the gamble, while Ferrari opted for the more conservative approach and committed to the two-stop strategy. And it soon became clear that it was the Italians who had made the right decision.

Charles Leclerc in particular showed great pace on the mediums and rose from eighth to net third place. He had to settle for fourth in the end, as team-mate Carlos Sainz came charging through late on with his fresher rubber to snatch the podium.

Meanwhile, the Mercedes drivers were struggling on the harder compound. It wasn’t even half-distance when Hamilton demanded over the radio that the team abort its current plan and pit for new tyres, while George Russell also did the same not long after.

The latter managed to rise to seventh in the end but could not reel in Fernando Alonso ahead. Meanwhile, Hamilton could only manage ninth to take home only two points for his efforts.

After the race, Mercedes discussed the strategy gamble which had not paid off. A spokesperson said: “With our tyre allocation, we were able to give ourselves the possibility of looking at either a one or a two stop after the red flag – hence the hard tyre restart.

“Ultimately, as the race progressed, the tyre degradation showed that the two-stop was going to be the quickest way to the flag. Our second and third stints showed solid pace compared to those around us, including the McLarens and the Ferraris.

“We knew that Suzuka would not be our strongest track though and, with time lost being overtaken on the offset strategy (one of the downsides of this strategy), we couldn’t make it back to P6 which was likely the maximum today.”

Max Verstappen took victory, leading from start to finish to get back to winning ways after his Melbourne DNF last time out. Team-mate Sergio Perez showed strong pace to finish second behind the Dutchman while Sainz made it three podiums from his three races this year.