McLaren have revealed that Lewis Hamilton’s set-up woes in Japan weren’t the only reason for his poorer pace, which saw him struggle throughout qualifying.
A post-race investigation found an issue with part of his suspension which is likely the cause of his understeer and balance problems.
Hamilton admitted the explanation was comforting news.
“I know my car very well, so it’s very rare that I get it [the set-up] wrong. And if I do it’s only a little bit and I can still manage it.
“But this was the worst it has ever been set up, and I was really shocked that I had done that.
“I hoped it wasn’t my fault, but fortunately the guys did a lot of analysis after the race and found our that we had a failure on part of the rear suspension, so that’s comforting.”
Describing the problem in more detail, he added: “It’s not a suspension failure, because I could still drive with it.
“There was just a part that helps the balance and when you set it up it should react in one way but it didn’t do that.
“I’m happy that we found something, so it won’t be a problem for this weekend.”
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