Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished fifth and sixth in second practice at the Japanese Grand Prix, trailing McLaren's Oscar Piastri by seven and eight tenths of a second. Hamilton described the SF-26 as not quick enough, citing balance issues and poor straight-line speed. The team plans overnight adjustments to challenge McLaren behind leaders Mercedes.
At Suzuka, Ferrari endured a challenging Friday during Formula 1's Japanese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc grappled with the SF-26 car, which proved difficult to handle. In second practice, Leclerc placed fifth and Hamilton sixth, losing approximately 0.7 and 0.8 seconds to session leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren. Much of the deficit—nearly four tenths—occurred on the home straight into Turn 1, with further losses on other straights despite gains in slower corners against Mercedes-engined rivals. Energy deployment contributed, but Hamilton pinpointed the car's balance as the core issue. 'The car generally feels okay, it's just not quick enough at the moment and I think it's just balance,' Hamilton said. 'We've just got to work hard overnight to try and figure out how we can set the car up better. Ultimately there's a lot of time on the straights, it's four tenths into Turn 1 at the moment compared to McLaren. So deployment is part of it... and then I think there's more performance in the car to extract if we can get the set-up right.' Ferrari sporting director Diego Ioverno viewed the gap as expected, aligning with the first two races in short runs. 'I think the gap is more or less where we expected it to be,' Ioverno said. 'We'll do what we can do, analysing data and trying to fix some small issues... The track is difficult with the new surface in the second part. A key factor would be to make sure the tyres are working from the first lap. Nothing unexpected.' Meanwhile, McLaren stated it remains behind championship-leading Mercedes and Ferrari despite topping FP2. 'Despite Oscar topping the timesheets in FP2, the underlying pictures appear to have remained the same,' the team said in a release, noting no upgrades this weekend.
