Lewis Hamilton says his Mercedes W08 is "feeling much better" in Suzuka than it did last week in Sepang, as the Briton posted the second quickest time in FP1 and topped FP2 – albeit a wet session in which only five cars set a timed lap.
Mercedes struggled for pace in Malaysia, particuarly in the wet, and although Hamilton went on to secure pole position – a session in which chief rival Sebastian Vettel didn't take part – he fell back in the race with Red Bull's Max Verstappen beating him on pure pace.
"It’s been an interesting day, the car is feeling much better than it was in Malaysia," declared Hamilton. "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 car feels back to normal, so I’m ready to race."
Hamilton thanked the loyal Japanese fans for sticking it out during the wet, shortened FP2 which saw just a handful of cars complete more than a single lap.
"The fans are pretty special here – 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 was also positive following a disappointing weekend for the Finn, adding: "In practice one, the car did feel better than it did in Malaysia, but we still need to work on things to make the car quicker.
"As a starting point for the weekend, it definitely feels better than a week ago. The long runs actually weren’t too bad, and hopefully we’ll see better weather tomorrow."
