Lewis Hamilton has explained how he has “no clue” about how the Japanese GP will play out after a computer glitch stunted his qualifying effort.

Hamilton will line up sixth on the grid, his best result at Suzuka since the same position in 2022, after struggling to match team-mate Charles Leclerc throughout the session on a weekend the SF-26 has been locked in a fight for second-best behind Mercedes with McLaren. 

Reflecting o his worst qualifying result of the season so far, Hamilton revealed how he suffered a computer algorithm glitch after a snap of oversteer, with the battery energy deployment largely controlled by electronics. 

For this reason, it is important for drivers to avoid snaps, which can confuse the systems, with Hamilton revealing that he lost a sizeable chunk of time as a result.

“Q1 was okay, and it got better and better, but we’re just miles away from the guys ahead. I was extracting the best I could,” Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365. 

“The deployment is definitely a big part of it. My first lap [in Q3], I was up, but I lost two-and-a-half tenths on the back-straight through deployment after a snap of oversteer, and it changed the whole algorithm.

“It should be that you catch it and keep going. 

“I really have no clue what the race will be like, I wasn’t around anybody in race simulations, but it is not normally a track where there is a lot of overtaking, so I expect it to be less than in China.

“As [McLaren] start extracting more of the power of that Mercedes engine, we have a real job on our hands, but I think the engine is only a part of it, and this weekend at least, the chassis has not been on par with the Mercedes.”