The Ferrari driver's strong run of seven consecutive front-row starting positions ended in Australia where he qualified fifth before a penalty for Sergio Perez gifted him a place.
He struggled again at Suzuka, where he couldn't better eighth after having to use a second set of tyres to guarantee safe passage out of Q1.
In both races, he came through the field to take second and fourth positions respectively, but he insists that he needs to start further up the grid.
"If I only look today I'm very happy, I don't think there was anything we could have done better," he said when asked by Autosport about his Suzuka race.
"The pace was really good, tyre management was really good, communication was really good.
"However, as a driver, you always have to look at the negative over the whole weekend.
"And whether it's in Australia or here, race pace has not been a problem - it's my qualifying pace, which is not something that I've been very used to in my career, to be working on my qualifying pace, because normally it's pretty good on the Saturday.
Source: Autosport