Lewis Hamilton was a happy man his "best" Friday of the year at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion was only fifth fastest under the lights at Marina Bay and slower than Mercedes teammate George Russell, who was third behind the leading Ferraris.
But that didn't stop Hamilton from declaring Practice 2 his "best" so far in 2023.
“FP1 was solid. We were still a little bit off where we wanted to be, but it wasn’t too bad," he surmised.
"FP2 was for sure the best FP2 session I’ve had this year. It was nice to finish a Friday feeling so positive.
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“We are a little bit off compared to the Ferraris, but we’ll work overnight to see if we can close that gap.
"I think we’re very close to the top, there are three or four teams very, very close – within a tenth or so of each other.”
A reason why Hamilton is so upbeat is Mercedes usually makes a strong step forward overnight from practice into qualifying on Saturday.
And the 38-year-old is confident about doing so again in Singapore.
“I think we’ve got a good platform to build off for the rest of the weekend," he said.
"It’s the best I’ve felt from a Friday this year, so I hope we can do some good work overnight, as we always tend to do, and continue to improve.”
Finally, Hamilton also heaped praise on the changes made to the Marina Bay circuit for this year.
“It’s been a great day here in Singapore. They have done an amazing job with the track changes; I love driving this circuit now more than ever,” he stated.
“The new track surface is great, and it made the track even more enjoyable to drive. Then the removal of the four corners near the end of the lap has absolutely perfected the circuit. It’s incredible to drive.”
Hamilton's only complaint is the decision not to add a fourth DRS zone on the new straight to Turn 16, which had been discussed on Thursday.
“The FIA asked all the teams and a couple of teams turned it down," he revealed.
"So, in the driver’s briefing, we’ll try and bring it up. The teams should be for more racing, not against it.
"It’s interesting to have a few teams that are against it, but we’ll discuss it and try. Overall, it’s going to be an interesting race, it’ll be down to [tyre] deg though mostly.”
