F1 news: Lewis Hamilton questions Ferrari power after ‘barely holding on’ at Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton has had a mixed second season at Ferrari so far, but he revealed that a mysterious power loss ruined his chances of back-to-back podiums in the closing stages of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Sunday’s race was action-packed, with three teams competing for top honours, but a late loss of power ended the Briton’s hopes of being in the mix.

Hamilton’s subsequent comments marked his latest criticism of Ferrari’s set-up, with the seven-time world champion admitting to struggling at Suzuka.

Here, Sports News Blitz writer Luca Salmasi takes a closer look at what went wrong.

Power issue has Hamilton ‘going backwards’

“Pretty terrible ultimately because I was P3 and I ended up going backwards,” Hamilton told Sky Sports when asked to give his thoughts on the race.

“I just need to understand where I was losing all the power.

“I had a real lack of power, particularly in the second stint, but even at the beginning I couldn’t keep up with people just through a lack of power.

“I don’t understand this. I’m full gas, managing where I’m asked to manage, and for some reason just lacking power.

“So, I need to figure out if there’s something wrong with the car or not.”

READ MORE: F1 news: Red Bull champion Max Verstappen considers F1 exit

Strong tyre management but no speed

Hamilton added: “I love being in Japan, I’ve generally enjoyed driving. It’s just as I said – I just really got 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.”

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