Lewis Hamilton makes worrying Mercedes admission after Japanese GP practice struggles.

Mercedes is hoping for another podium at Suzuka this weekend but Hamilton did not give an optimistic view on his team’s chances after a difficult day of competition.

Lewis Hamilton has admitted a lack of confidence in his Mercedes car after struggling during practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Both sessions on Friday failed to impress the seven-time world champion on the timesheets. He was outside the top 10 on both occasions, although the first was probably due to the Silver Arrows not finishing their race on soft tyres.

However, speaking after the session, Hamilton raised concerns about the feel of his car that day. “It was a very challenging day for us out there. I had a lack of confidence in the car and that contributed to our struggles,” he said.

“It was difficult to find the right balance and we didn’t manage to get on top of it by the end of FP2. The tyres were overheating and that left us quite far off the top of the timing sheets.

We know we’ve got a lot of work to do tonight to pick up the performance. However, I believe we can improve. We’ve had similar Fridays this season and came back stronger on Saturday. We’ll see tomorrow if we’ve done it. We will work hard tonight to give ourselves every chance of moving higher in the rankings. »

Because he did not use softs, his teammate George Russell was also outside the top 10 in FP1. But he improved to finish fifth in the second session of the day and his assessment seemed much more optimistic as a result.

It was great to come back and cycle around Suzuka,” he said. “It was an incredible lap. It was a bit of a strange Friday for us. The track seemed to have very low grip, especially in FP1 so the car slid a lot. It doesn’t give you the best driving experience in the world, especially when you have to take many corners at high speed. Sunday’s race will also be interesting as tire degradation looks to be very significant. In terms of relative order, Red Bull seems to have returned to its normal pace at the front. They were especially fast today.

I think we are likely half-a-step behind the Ferraris and the McLaren of Lando Norris at display. We’ve got a bit of work to do today evening time to shut that crevice. We are ordinarily solid at finding those performance picks up so able to be idealistic of progressing for tomorrow.”

And, summing up the team’s appearing as a entirety, trackside building executive Andrew Shovlin included: “We’ve certainly been on the back foot nowadays… We know we must make enhancements overnight. We are not belittling the work we’ve have to be do to be more grounded over the rest of the end of the week.