Hamilton questions Ferrari after mysterious power loss costs him Suzuka podium

Lewis Hamilton has revealed a mysterious power loss cost him a shot at the podium in the closing laps of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Sunday’s race at Suzuka saw three teams racing for the top positions as McLaren bounced back from its double DNS in China to join the fight.

Lewis Hamilton questions Ferrari over Suzuka power loss

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Unable to make the same flying launch as he had in Australia and China, Hamilton only made up one position off the line as he, and the four drivers ahead of him, took advantage of Kimi Antonelli’s tardy start to pass the pole-sitter.

Antonelli, though, made short work of overtaking Hamilton as he powered through at Turn 1 on the second lap. Hamilton remained P6 in the early stint, before he was elevated to second as those ahead of him pitted.

The timing of a Safety Car for Oliver Bearman’s massive 50G crash meant Hamilton was given a free pit stop, and was third at the restart when he overtook his former teammate George Russell.

However, a lack of power meant the seven-time World Champion wasn’t able to defend his position and lost out to Leclerc, Russell, and also Lando Norris.

More reaction from the Japanese Grand Prix

Heartbreak for Oscar Piastri as surprise Suzuka win slips away

Oliver Bearman health update after huge 50G Japanese GP crash

The Briton wants answers from Ferrari as he doesn’t understand why his SF-26 was lacking power compared to Leclerc’s car.

“I just struggled with power in the race. Some reason I was just down,” he said.

“I was in a defense. I was defending the whole time. The guys all around me, just seemed to have more power today.

“So I need to try and understand why that is the case, whether my engine was down or what. I need to understand that.”

“Somehow, Charles had more power than me today, in the same car. So I need to understand why that is. He did a good job to get to third place. But, yeah, lacking power.”

After the joy of China, where he claimed his maiden podium as a Ferrari driver, Hamilton was understandably more downbeat in Japan.

Asked if this was his least enjoyable outing of the F1 2026 season with its all-new regulations, he replied: “I love being in Japan, I’ve generally enjoyed driving. It’s just, as I said, I just really got trying to understand.

“I had a really good stint of managing the tyres and then just didn’t have the pace to just keep up. And it’s never fun when you’re just barely holding onto a pack. And when I got the fresh tyres, I still couldn’t.

“I just couldn’t. Just power-wise, I couldn’t stay ahead of people, which was really confusing. I need to understand.”

Hamilton remains fourth in the Drivers’ Championship where he is 31 points behind F1’s youngest-ever championship leader, Kimi Antonelli.

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Antonelli wins in Japan after huge crash for Bearman brings out Safety Car