Leclerc and Hamilton left suprised by Mercedes' performance jump in qualifying

Ferrari endured a demanding qualifying session at Suzuka, locked in a tense battle with McLaren that ultimately saw Charles Leclerc edged out by Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton beaten by Lando Norris.

The team had shown flashes of strong pace throughout the day, but when the final laps mattered most, both drivers fell just short of their targets. Leclerc, who had gone fastest of all in the first sector on his last attempt, lost crucial time with a snap in sector two, while Hamilton continued to struggle for confidence around the Japanese circuit.

Leclerc will start fourth and felt he had extracted almost everything from the car, even if the small mistake cost him a chance at the front row. “I don’t think there was much more in that final lap, even though I lost some time with the snap in sector two,” he said.

“Q1 and Q2 looked quite good, but our competitors seem to make an extra step in Q3 and we have to investigate what they are doing differently, in order to close the gap. If we have a strong start, it’s a positive, then we have to focus on staying in front, which will be tough because we will have to keep battling with our opponents from start to finish. I will give it my all.”

Hamilton, who lines up sixth, echoed the sense of progress mixed with frustration. The seven‑time world champion has not looked fully comfortable at Suzuka all weekend, consistently trailing his teammate by small but persistent margins.

“Qualifying was okay today. It wasn’t where I’d hope to be but the car felt decent at times and there were some encouraging signs,” he said.

“There’s still a lot of performance to unlock, we’ve made progress, and I’m hopeful we can fight forward tomorrow, but we know there’s still a significant gap to the cars ahead and plenty of work to do.”

Team principal Frédéric Vasseur offered a broader perspective on Ferrari’s qualifying pattern, noting once again that the team performed strongly in Q1 and Q2 before losing momentum in Q3. For him, the issue is not simply raw pace but the complexity of extracting the maximum from the 2026‑spec machinery

“At the moment, we are still going through the learning process regarding how to approach qualifying and how to improve from Q1 to Q3, without being too aggressive,” he explained.

“It’s not just about energy management or about pure performance: it’s about how to extract the best from the car. That can sometimes be counterintuitive for the driver, and we will have to fully understand why we had a better Q2 than Q3.”

Despite the setback, Vasseur remains focused on the bigger picture and the opportunities that Sunday may bring. Ferrari has been consistently strong off the line this season, and their race pace on long runs has looked promising once again.

“Tonight, we will focus on tomorrow’s race as it is Sunday when the points are given out,” he said. “So, let’s hope we get a good start, choose the right strategy and then see what we can do. So far, our race pace has been solid, let’s see how many points we can score tomorrow.”