While Oscar Piastri controlled the 19-lap race on the Losail circuit with Mercedes’ George Russell and Lando Norris rounding out the top three, the Scuderia team was left wondering where it had gone wrong after Hamilton could do no better than 17th following a start from the pitlane.
Following his struggle, the seven-time champion revealed the issues he identified after a number of changes were made overnight.
“Well, I mean, we started from the pitlane because we wanted to explore and make some changes,” he said. “They had some things they found on the simulator last night, so we implemented those changes. And yeah, the car was really in the wrong direction and very, very difficult for whatever reason,” he said, after joking that he would “be here all day” if he listed everything he wanted improved.
The Briton’s main complaint came in the shape of a lack of rear-end traction.
“We just don’t have any stability. So when I say that, it’s the rear end is not planted. So it’s sliding, snapping a lot. Then we have bouncing. So when you’re going into corners like Turn 10, the thing starts bouncing.
Lewis Hamilton detailed his horrifying struggle with the Ferrari: “We have a lot of mid-corner understeer. And then you apply the steering and then it snaps and you try and catch it. So it’s different between low, medium and high. And it’s a fight like you couldn’t believe,” Hamilton explained.
The frustration was not limited to Hamilton’s side of the garage. On the other side, teammate Charles Leclerc voiced similar complaints after finishing 13th. When asked if he agreed with Hamilton’s assessment that the car had worsened between yesterday’s qualifying and today’s race, Leclerc definitively confirmed: “It definitely did. I have no idea how that happened from qualifying to today. The feeling has changed completely to yesterday and I don’t really know from where it’s coming from.”
Leclerc described the chaos from the start: “The first lap was just, I was struggling to keep the car on track. Lost four or five positions and then still lots of mistakes because it was extremely difficult to drive. So I don’t quite understand what happened there.” With both drivers facing such a challenging and unpredictable car, Ferrari was left with a massive job on its hands to find solutions and urgently adjust the car for the main Grand Prix qualifying session taking place later that day.