Lewis Hamilton finished sixth in qualifying in Japan, and the Briton is concerned about McLaren’s progress.
Qualifying in Japan once again offered a strong McLaren, with Oscar Piastri finishing third (3.5 seconds behind Antonelli), while Lando Norris posted the fifth fastest time, sandwiched between the two Ferraris. Lewis Hamilton himself, who had seemed to be struggling so far, sounded rather concerned when discussing the Woking team’s progress, which, so far, hasn’t delivered any significant updates.
Lewis said: “It seems like McLaren has made a step forward. Of course, they have the Mercedes engine, which is currently much further ahead of us, and we have a huge amount of work to do. Even if we were to make up 2, 3, or 4 tenths, we’d still be a long way off, so closing that gap will require a huge push from everyone.”
Hamilton then added: “When they start extracting more power from the Mercedes engine, then we will lose further ground. The engine is part of the problem, but the chassis is also clearly not up to the Mercedes’ standards here, as they are quicker through the corners. In terms of performance, we are clearly inferior to the Mercedes power unit, we don’t know if that’s because of the bigger turbo, more power, or what. We’ll find out, we need to try to understand it and work harder to try to close the gap.”
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari HP, McLaren F1 Team
