Ferrari drivers struggle with deployment issues in final part of Suzuka qualifying

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both felt deployment issues cost them lap time on their Q3 attempts at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Ferrari has been Mercedes’ closest challenger so far in race trim but was unable to lock out the second row with Oscar Piastri ending up third ahead of Leclerc in fourth and Hamilton in sixth. Leclerc was over six tenths adrift of Kimi Antonelli’s pole position time, and believes the way he attacks the final part of qualifying is hurting him under the new regulations.

“Honestly I think the thing is in Q3 – or at least it depends which car you have, but with our car in Q3 – that’s where you want to get out on the track and try things you've never tried before, taking risks that you've never taken before and that's been rewarding for most of us in all our careers and now this is not possible anymore,” Leclerc said.

“Every time you go a little bit over the limit, any time you have a bit of a snap, this is costing energy on the power unit side and then you pay the price more. So I feel like at the moment consistency is paying off more than being brave and going to take something that you've never tried before, which is a shame and which makes qualifying a little bit less challenging and this is something that we need to work on.

“But it's a known issue, it's not that the FIA or the teams are just accepting the situation as it is there's a lot of work behind the scenes and I hope that we can find a solution as soon as possible.”

Hamilton had similar feelings to those of his teammate, although he felt his was one specific incident that prevented him from being a row ahead, having ended up 0.162s behind Leclerc.

“Deployment is definitely a big part of it,” Hamilton said. “My first lap [of Q3], I was up, at least to Charles, and just lost two and a half tenths just down the back straight, because I had a snap of oversteer, it just changed the whole algorithm.

“It's not ideal. It should be like you catch it and you keep going. That's where these rules are.”