2024 Japanese GP

George and Lewis finish the Japanese Grand Prix in seventh and ninth place

The 2024 Japanese Grand Prix once again provided an entertaining race in front of the passionate Japanese fans in the grandstands. Lewis and George started the fourth race of the season in seventh and ninth place and were able to hold their positions at the start.

The race was interrupted shortly after the start following an accident involving Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) and Alex Albon (Williams). Both drivers were uninjured and the race was restarted after half an hour.

Lewis and George again started the Grand Prix from seventh and ninth positions at the restart. Both switched from the Medium to the Hard tyres to keep the option of a one-stop strategy open.

Ultimately, as the race progressed, the tyre degradation showed that the two-stop was going to be the quickest way to the flag. Both drivers showed a solid pace in their second and third stints.

After his second stop, George quickly caught up with Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso in front of him. After a failed attack, he was able to overtake the McLaren on the final lap and secure P7.

Lewis struggled with understeer during the race, which is why he and George swapped positions in the middle of the race. In the final phase of the race, however, Lewis was able to set some of the fastest times in the field after his second stop on the Medium tyres. In the end, he crossed the finish line in P9.

From Suzuka, the journey continues to Shanghai, where the return of the Chinese Grand Prix is scheduled in a fortnight's time. F1 raced at the Shanghai International Circuit for the last time in the 2019 season. We will continue our learning process there with the W15 and build on the findings of the past few races.

Lewis Hamilton

It was a difficult day today. I did my best, but the result wasn’t a good one. Unfortunately, that is where our car is at the moment. I didn’t feel great on the Hard tyre and picked up a little bit of damage on the restart. I had lots of understeer, particularly during that first stint, which was why I decided to let George past. Once we put on the Medium compound, it started to feel a little better. The final stint was the first time in the race that I felt like I had good grip.

We need to keep working hard as today, our pace was likely only good enough for P6. If we want to move up the grid, then we will need to add more performance to the car.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

It wasn't an easy race today. We weren't quick enough in qualifying so were starting too far back to challenge for the podium. Early in the race, our pace was simply not good enough too. We'd decided to go to the Hard tyre at the red flag as we felt there wasn't much threat from behind, and it was our best way to offset and try something different. Towards the end of that stint we were really struggling with low grip. We couldn't stop early as there was too much traffic in the window, so we stayed out until we had cleared it. Unfortunately by then, we had lost a chunk of time.

The second and third stints were more encouraging, but we'd lost too much time by that point to get back into the mix. We know that we are not quick enough at the moment, so we will continue work hard to improve that. Despite the challenging result, it has been a useful weekend to learn more about our car and develop our understanding of the W15.

2024 Japanese GP Race Result