Valtteri Bottas praised the update package brought by Mercedes to Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix, believing its W10 can be pushed “even further than before”.
Bottas edged Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton during both of Friday’s practice sessions at Suzuka as the squad finished comfortably clear atop the timesheets.
“It was a very positive day,” said Bottas.
“We tried the new bits with the car we had for this weekend. I'm glad the weather stayed good, we got plenty of running and used obviously some tyres from Saturday as well.
“So good running, it felt good since the beginning. Pretty happy with the car in general. Just some minor things with the balance to treat, but the short and long runs, at least today, felt good.
“[We] still need to remember it's only practice. I do still feel the gains we made with the car, so that's always a very nice feeling.
“We can push the car even further than before. I think we need to focus on ourselves, but yeah, Sunday is still going to be close with qualy and the race.”
Bottas nonetheless expects Mercedes to take advantage of the additional time available between practice and qualifying to further fine tune its W10.
“For sure we tried to do everything we could today in the session and really prioritise things, and try to be efficient with the time,” he said.
“I think we did a good job. That means there's lots of work to be done to analyse everything before qualifying on Sunday morning if it happens.
“Tomorrow, I'm sure the team will keep me busy somehow. I'm sure we'll take advantage of the extra time to look at things we can do better.”
