Lewis Hamilton tempers expectations as he settles in with Ferrari

SUZUKA, Japan (AP) — Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton is not used to aiming lower. But he may need to as he adjusts to his first season with Ferrari.

He's won a record of 105 F1 races, but it's anyone's guess when he'll make it 106. He's won only twice in the last three seasons and is winless in the first two races in the main event in 2025 going into Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

“There was obviously a huge amount of hype at the beginning of the year," he said ahead of Sunday's race. “I don’t know if everyone was expecting us to be winning from race one and winning the championship in our first year.

“That wasn’t my expectation," he added. "I know that I’m coming into a new culture, a new team and it’s going to take time.”

Hamilton was among the quickest drivers on Saturday in the third practice session ahead of qualifying. Lando Norris of McLaren led with a time of 1 minute, 27.965 seconds and teammate Oscar Piastri was only 0.026 behind. Hamilton was in sixth, 0.559 behind Norris.

Max Verstappen won the pole for Red Bull on Saturday, posting a track-record time on his final lap.

Hamilton was eighth in qualifying, about the expected order as the top four teams — McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari — battle it out.

Norris and Piastri have won the first two races this season in Australia and China, respectively, and McLaren was also expected to dominate in Japan.

Hamilton's start to the season has been well documented. He was 10th in the season's first race in Australia, won the sprint in China two weeks ago, but was disqualified for technical infringements along with teammate Charles Leclerc in the main race on Sunday.

This was a major embarrassment for the best-financed team in F1.

“I saw someone said something about whether I’m losing faith in the team, which is complete rubbish,” Hamilton said. “I have absolute 100% faith in this team.”

Hamilton has won five times in Japan, but not since 2018. Hamilton, like many drivers, loves the Suzuka layout.

“This track is awesome,” he said. "It never ceases to amaze you when you get on this circuit.

“We've got some performance to pick up. We're not the quickest at the moment. But I think there's a good baseline.”

AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the third practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the third practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain arrives at the Suzuka Circuit for the first practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix in Suzuka, central Japan, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the third practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain prepares to drive during the third practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain arrives his team house before the third practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares nosedived on Monday after the meltdown Friday on Wall Street over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff hikes and the backlash from Beijing.

U.S. futures also signaled further weakness. The future for the S&P 500 lost 4.2% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 3.5%. The future for the Nasdaq lost 5.3%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 8% shortly after the market opened and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tumbled more than 6%.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.4%.

Oil prices sank further, with U.S. benchmark crude down 4%, or $2.50, at $59.49 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up $2.25 to $63.33 a barrel.

On Friday, Wall Street’s worst crisis since COVID slammed into a higher gear. The S&P 500 plummeted 6% and the Dow plunged 5.5%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 5.8%.

The losses came after China matched President Donald Trump’s big raise in tariffs announced last week, upping the stakes in a trade war that could end with a recession that hurts everyone. Even a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market, usually the economic highlight of each month, wasn't enough to stop the slide.

So far there have been few, if any, winners in financial markets from the trade war. Stocks for all but 14 of the 500 companies within the S&P 500 index fell Friday. The price of crude oil tumbled to its lowest level since 2021. Other basic building blocks for economic growth, such as copper, also saw prices slide on worries the trade war will weaken the global economy.

China’s response to U.S. tariffs caused an immediate acceleration of losses in markets worldwide. The Commerce Ministry in Beijing said it would respond to the 34% tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports from China with its own 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10, among other measures.

The United States and China are the world’s two largest economies.

The central question looking ahead is: Will the trade war cause a global recession? If it does, stock prices may need to come down even more than they have already. The S&P 500 is down 17.4% from its record set in February.

Trump seemed unfazed. From Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, he headed to his golf course a few miles away after writing on social media that “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH.”

The Federal Reserve could cushion the blow of tariffs on the economy by cutting interest rates, which can encourage companies and households to borrow and spend. But the Fed may have less freedom to move than it would like.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that tariffs could drive up expectations for inflation and lower rates could fuel still more price increases.

“Our obligation is to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored and to make certain that a one-time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem,” Powell said.

Much will depend on how long Trump’s tariffs stick and what kind of retaliations other countries deliver. Some of Wall Street is holding onto hope that Trump will lower the tariffs after prying “wins” from other countries following negotiations.

Trump has said Americans may feel “some pain” because of tariffs, but he has also said the long-term goals, including getting more manufacturing jobs back to the United States, are worth it.

On Wall Street, stocks of companies that do lots of business in China fell to some of the sharpest losses.

DuPont dropped 12.7% after China said its regulators are launching an anti-trust investigation into DuPont China group, a subsidiary of the chemical giant. It’s one of several measures targeting American companies and in retaliation for the U.S. tariffs.

GE Healthcare got 12% of its revenue last year from the China region, and it fell 16%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell, but they pared their drops following Powell’s cautious statements about inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.01% from 4.06% late Thursday and from roughly 4.80% early this year. It had gone below 3.90% in the morning.

US President Donald Trump appears on a television screen at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A screen displays financial news as traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)