A comfortable 1-2 in both sessions meant smiles all-round at Mercedes following Japanese Grand Prix practice.
Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets in the morning and afternoon at Suzuka, with that afternoon time potentially earning him pole position should Saturday’s typhoon leave lasting effects that make Sunday’s planned qualifying unmanageable.
With final practice not taking place, however, it gave teams more freedom to run more sets of tyres and that made the day more enjoyable in Hamilton’s view.
“It’s actually been a much better Friday because normally we only have two tyres per session,” the world champion explained in the paddock.
“But because we are obviously missing tomorrow we’ve brought all the tyres that we would have had for tomorrow, the two sets that we would have had for the session [FP3], into today, so that’s an interesting learning [experience].
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“Maybe they need to bring us more tyres in the race weekend so we can do three runs,” Lewis suggested.
“If we had three tyres in practice one and practice two and three for practice three, it would just be better for running and for the fans, because we would be running from the beginning of the session – rather than waiting for 20 minutes before we then go out, so I think it’s probably better for the fans.”
As for his assessment of the performance…
“It’s been a pretty straightforward day and we’ve got through our programme,” Hamilton surmised.
“I think Valtteri had a little spin on one of the laps we were about to start but nonetheless it’s been a good day. Valtteri had good pace and was quick.”
As for Bottas, while the timesheets signal the potential for a dominant weekend in Japan, he isn’t counting anyone just yet.
“It felt good since the beginning, so I’m pretty happy with the car in general,” he commented.
“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,” Bottas added.
“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 qualifying and the race.”