Hamilton finished seventh, but in his fastest lap was more than a second slower than Verstappen, who took pole position with an almost perfect lap on the Suzuka circuit. “That difference is insanely big,” said the Brit.
He wasn’t happy with his car in Friday’s practice, but Hamilton had to admit that the W14 felt a lot better on Saturday. “It was terrible in practice on Friday, but we had made good changes and the car felt really good today. I was happy with it. Unfortunately we are not fast enough, especially in the first sector of this circuit we are too slow. The gap with Verstappen is currently one second and that is also worrying with a view to next year. We’re going to have a hard time in the race on Sunday.