LEWIS HAMILTON is optimistic of a decent result in this weekend’s Japanese GP – providing his engineers don’t “eff it up”.
The seven-time world champion has made a dreadful start to the season, which he labelled as his worst since he joined F1 in 2007.
SplashLewis Hamilton is aiming for a positive result in the Japanese GP[/caption]
However, after a positive opening day behind the wheel in Suzuka, he has reason to smile again and is confident of a solid race, provided they don’t stuff it up.
He said: “It was a great session, it was a really good session for us. It was the best session that we’ve had this year, it’s the best the car has felt this year so far. So far, pretty positive.
“I was really excited because this is a circuit that every driver loves to drive.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve had a really difficult car and a difficult balance to drive here.
“And given the difficult last few races we’ve had, great work has been done this past week and we just seem to have hit the ground a bit more in a sweeter spot.
“So, I haven’t really made any changes since [FP1]. I think we’ve got a better platform or baseline to start from, so as long as we don’t make too many changes and eff it up…
“I think probably just stay where we are and hopefully we’ll have a [good weekend].”
The problem for Mercedes this season has been so bad that boss Toto Wolff performed a u-turn on his decision to skip the Japanese GP.
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Wolff struggles with jet-lag for the race in Suzuka and was set to work from home, where he would still be in contact with the team in Japan.
However, following their poor start to the season, and with neither Hamilton nor George Russell finishing the Australian GP, the Austrian has changed his mind not to attend.
He said: “I had planned not to come to Japan, because there’s so much going on back in Europe, things to do.
“But then I felt not coming to Japan was the wrong choice. I think it’s important to be with the race team…it does me good also, to be close to the action.
“We’re experimenting with a few things and then being part of the team really gives me energy and I hope the other way around, too. So that’s why I decided against staying in Europe.”
Hamilton had earlier spoken about the harsh reality of seeing both cars fail to score a single point after making the long trip to Melbourne.
He said: “It’s all about perspective. I think for us of course we’ve not started the season where we wanted to be.
“We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve seen in the past — last year for example — how things can switch with certain teams.
“I think we’ve just got to learn as much as we can, take as much as we can from the data, remain positive, continue to work hard and I always say it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get up.
“We will just continue to chase and fight and hope we can be fighting at the front at some stage.”
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