Lewis Hamilton was far from pleased with his team at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton expressed his frustration during the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday when he requested his team to change his strategy midway through the race.
This came after Mercedes decided to go for an unconventional race plan at Suzuka.
The seven-time world champion secured the seventh position in qualifying and was optimistic about the upcoming race, but Hamilton’s performance deteriorated quickly as he faced difficulties maintaining a competitive pace on Sunday.
Mercedes began the race by putting medium compound tyres on both Hamilton and his team-mate George Russell, but they were able to change to fresh hards during a red flag stoppage on the opening lap.
Mercedes’ strategy call seemed to be well thought out as cars faced significant tire wear early on, but the team had difficulty keeping up with the pace even with the advantage of the new tires.
Hamilton’s pace took such a hit during the opening stint that the 39-year-old came onto the team radio with an offer to swap positions with his team-mate, which he then did on lap 14.
However, by lap 21 Hamilton’s patience with the strategy ran out, and the seven-time champion dialling in with a demand for race engineer Pete Bonnington, exclaiming: “Change this strategy!”
Mercedes eventually brought Hamilton into the pit lane a handful of laps later, but when the Brit emerged from the pit lane he was once again on hard compound tyres with the team denying him his wish.
The reality of race day at Suzuka was a far cry from Hamilton’s pre-race expectations. After qualifying, he said: “We were a second or just over a second off last year to the Red Bull and seven-tenths is better.
“Maybe if we had done something a little bit different maybe we could have been another tenth faster, maybe, but other than that, that was everything.
I think what it’s giving us is I know exactly where the car is not strong enough, I can feel it in the car, and I know now to be telling them to ‘push in this particular area’. But I’m hoping the race will be stronger tomorrow.”
Japanese Grand Prix 2024 results
The final classification from Suzuka was as follows:
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +12.535s
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +20.866s
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +26.522s
5. Lando Norris (McLaren) +29.700s
6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +44.272s
7. George Russell (Mercedes) +45.951s
8. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +47.525s
9. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +48.626s
10. Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB) +1 LAP
11. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) +1 LAP
12. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1 LAP
13. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1 LAP
14. Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber) +1 LAP
15. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +1 LAP
16. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 LAP
17. Logan Sargeant (Williams) +1 LAP
18. Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber) DNF
19. Daniel Ricciardo (VCARB) DNF
20. Alex Albon (Williams) DNF
Fastest Lap
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 1:33.705s