The seven-time world champion qualified in P7 and was feeling upbeat ahead of the race, but Hamilton’s race rapidly unravelled as he struggled for pace on Sunday.
After initially starting both Hamilton and team-mate George Russell on medium compound tyres, an opening-lap red flag allowed Mercedes to make their mandatory stops and restart both drivers on fresh hards.
With cars experiencing extreme tyre degradation during the opening stages, Mercedes’ strategy call looked to be a masterful one, but the Silver Arrows struggled to maintain pace despite the favourable tyres.
Hamilton’s pace took such a hit during the opening stint that the 39-year-old came onto the team radio with an offer to swap positions with his team-mate, which he then did on lap 14.
However, by lap 21 Hamilton’s patience with the strategy ran out, and the seven-time champion dialling in with a demand for race engineer Pete Bonnington, exclaiming: “Change this strategy!”
Mercedes eventually brought Hamilton into the pit lane a handful of laps later, but when the Brit emerged from the pit lane he was once again on hard compound tyres with the team denying him his wish.
The reality of race day at Suzuka was a far cry from Hamilton’s pre-race expectations. After qualifying, he said: “We were a second or just over a second off last year to the Red Bull and seven-tenths is better.
“Maybe if we had done something a little bit different maybe we could have been another tenth faster, maybe, but other than that, that was everything.
“I think what it’s giving us is I know exactly where the car is not strong enough, I can feel it in the car, and I know now to be telling them to ‘push in this particular area’. But I’m hoping the race will be stronger tomorrow.”
