Hamilton sure Mercedes heading in right direction after best qualifying result

Lewis Hamilton was in an upbeat mood after achieving his best qualifying result of the season so far at the Japanese Grand Prix.

“I was giving it everything,” he told Sky. “The team did a really great job this past week understanding and making adjustments to our set-up.”

Having out-qualified his team mate for the first time this year, Hamilton said he benefited from not making significant changes to his car during practice. “This is actually the first weekend I’ve not gone crazy with set-up and I’m not testing a bunch of things, so I’m back to a little bit more normal.

“I think we got the car into a much nicer working window. So every lap it’s been really enjoyable driving.”

Hamilton qualified in the same position at Suzuka six months ago. Although Mercedes have had higher starting positions this year, including third place for George Russell in Bahrain, Hamilton said today’s result showed they have reduced the gap to their rivals.

“The [other] guys are just a little bit faster. We were a second or just over a second off last year to the Red Bull and seven tenths is better.

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“I think maybe if we’d done something a little bit different, maybe we could have been another tenth faster, maybe. But other than that, that was everything.”

Mercedes brought no updates for its car this weekend. Hamilton said they have made progress by improving their understanding of the W15.

“I know exactly where the car is not strong enough. I can feel it in the car and I know now to be able to tell them push in this particular area.

“But I’m hoping the race will be stronger for us tomorrow. I’ve really enjoyed driving so far this weekend.”

He is confident the team is heading in the right direction with its development plan for the car. “What we’ve noticed is from track to track it has been really, really hard to get to get the set-up right, and it’s been so far out each time. In some places, it just felt like nothing we could do gets the car in a sweet spot.

“But this weekend it’s much more in a sweet spot. So I hope that continues in the following races and then we’ve just got to add performance.”

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2024 Japanese Grand Prix

• “Am I in a race here or what?”: How Ferrari aced their Suzuka strategies
• Suzuka showed Mercedes “have a more stable platform” now
• Ferrari’s strategy gains in 2024 are “purely down to the car” – Sainz
• Tsunoda ‘at Verstappen and Alonso’s level’ with Suzuka performance – Marko
• Japan was first race where Red Bull’s winning margin was bigger than last year