Lewis Hamilton left a post-race interview in Japan after being asked if he was envious of Ferrari’s pace.
The seven-time world champion started seventh, ahead of Charles Leclerc, who followed a similar strategy to the Briton. Starting on medium compound tires, Hamilton and George Russell switched to hard tires for the restart on the third lap.
Mercedes’ plan was to make a single pit stop, which quickly backfired because the W15 had disappointing race pace. Hamilton was actually slower than Russell, to the point where he asked the team if he should let his teammate pass.
On lap 14, he was instructed to “swap positions” with Russell, before soon complaining that his “right front is dead”. It quickly became clear that the strategy wouldn’t work, with a frustrated Hamilton requesting a change.
Both Russell and Hamilton switched to a two pit-stop strategy and finished seventh and ninth, while Leclerc made the single stop work perfectly. Hamilton’s teammate in 2025 finished in fourth place, behind third-place Carlos Sainz.
Unsurprisingly, Hamilton was not in the mood for talking after another frustrating race for Mercedes.
“It was reasonable,” Hamilton told the media when asked about the fourth race of the 2024 season.
The result leaves Hamilton ninth in the drivers’ championship, while Mercedes is 86 points behind Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.
Ferrari is comfortably the closest challenger to Red Bull and has made significant improvements in its strategies under the leadership of Frederic Vasseur.
With Hamilton moving to Maranello next year, he was asked if he was envious of Ferrari’s performance, resulting in a blunt response.
“Do you have a better question?” Hamilton replied before walking away.
