Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes are in good shape after the first day of running at Suzuka having been off the pace in the previous two rounds.
“The car feels back to normal so I’m ready to race,” said the world championship leader. Hamilton was quickest in the wet second practice session and two-tenths off Vettel on a dry track in the morning session.
“It’s been an interesting day,” he said, “the car is feeling much better than it was in Malaysia.”
“I’m glad that we had the dry session for FP1. In FP2, there was a lot of rain, but it felt really important to go out and assess the track and see how the car was feeling as the car was not good in the wet in Malaysia.”
“The fans are pretty special here,” Hamilton added. “To be out there in the rain, waiting for us to go out through the whole of FP2. That’s also another reason I wanted to go out and at least give them a little bit of a show. So hopefully at least they got to see something as not many cars went out.”
Team mate Valtteri Bottas said the W08 “definitely feels better than a week ago.”
“My run with the soft tyres was good, but with the super-soft, I didn’t really gain any grip. So the main thing for me is to understand the super-soft performance. The long runs actually weren’t too bad, and hopefully we’ll see better weather tomorrow.”
Kribana (@krichelle)
6th October 2017, 9:31
Was that duck faster than Lewis in FP2? :P
Jere (@jerejj)
6th October 2017, 17:15
@krichelle What duck, LOL?
Frasier (@frasier)
6th October 2017, 22:20
No, the duck missed the chicane so it doesn’t count
Robbie (@robbie)
7th October 2017, 4:27
Duck: What Vettel should have yelled at Stroll.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
6th October 2017, 9:40
Phew!
BlueChris (@bluechris)
6th October 2017, 10:45
“The car feels back to normal so I’m ready to race,” said the world championship leader. Hamilton was quickest in the wet second practice session and two-tenths off Vettel on a dry track in the morning session”
2 tenths but in cool morning temps. The real test will be in race i suppose.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
6th October 2017, 10:57
More bad news for VET. Man, this VET guy can’t get a break at all even now when he lost the champ…
F Truth (@)
6th October 2017, 12:22
What are you moaning about he was 1st in the morning session?
Ben (@f117)
6th October 2017, 12:34
Why is it more bad news for Vet ? @mg1982
He was fastest this morning on the harder tyre. Just because Hamilton feels better in the Mercedes doesn’t make it the quickest car this weekend. I still think Ferrari have the pace to win this weekend and possibly get pole.
Just hearing Bottas has a 5 place grid drop too. That can only help Vettel as if the Mercedes does turn out to be much faster this weekend Vettel will already start in front of one.
F1Carbs
6th October 2017, 13:10
HAM not having any issues with the car and feeling comfortable means he will be confident enough to push when it matters. This wasn’t the case for the past 2 races so just compounds the Ferrari missed opportunities. VET needs a strong performance this weekend to let HAM know he’s still in the running.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
7th October 2017, 8:20
HAM did not feel comfortable in the car in the last 2 races?! I thought it was that Ferrari was the better car… at least this is what Mercedes/HAM fans told us.