Lewis Hamilton has revealed he had a “snap” which cost him during Japanese Grand Prix qualifying. The seven-time world champion had been looking to continue his impressive start to the 2026 season by securing at least a second row finish in Q3 at Suzuka, but he had to settle for P6 in the end.

Hamilton, 41, who secured his first podium finish for Ferrari at the Chinese Grand Prix last time out, was off the pace compared to teammate Charles Leclerc throughout qualifying and was unable to turn it around. Indeed, Hamilton will kickstart the Japanese GP on Sunday from the third row, with Lando Norris (P5), Leclerc (P4), Oscar Piastri (P3), George Russell (P2) behind pole sitter and the Chinese GP winner Kimi Antonelli.

Explaining what went wrong during qualifying, Ferrari’s Hamilton told Sky Sports: “I was feeling pretty decent, it’s just we’re not very quick, I mean compared to the Mercedes and a little bit the McLaren. My first lap I was up and then I lost two and a half tenths just on the straights, just from, I had a snap and then it changed the deployment and then that was it.”

He added: “I don’t know whether we can turn it into a podium, but our race pace has been pretty decent. It looks like McLaren have taken a step forward, naturally they’ve got the Mercedes engine which is a long way ahead of us at the moment.”

“To be seven-eight tenths off, even if you bring an upgrade of two, three, four tenths, it’s still a long way off. So, to close that gap is going to take a mighty push from everybody.”

McLaren duo Norris and Piastri have endured a challenging start to the season but were faster in Japanese GP qualifying and both finished above Hamilton.

“I mean, I don’t know,” Hamilton said, when asked if Ferrari can challenge the McLaren pair for a podium finish on Sunday, “We think they’ve really taken a step forward this weekend, so I think it will be challenging. But if we can get them off the line, maybe we can hold them [back].”