Can Hamilton get anywhere near Verstappen at Japanese GP?

The seven-time world champion qualified a distant sixth on Saturday, two places ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell, but was nearly a full second adrift of polesitter Max Verstappen.

Mercedes set the pace on Friday during a second wet practice but fell back in dry conditions seen during FP3 and qualifying at Suzuka.

“We were losing a lot of time on the straights but the car was feeling good in other parts of the lap, so it was fun and my lap was generally good,” Hamilton told Sky.

“I didn’t have any problems otherwise, I think we are losing something like five or six tenths just on the straights. But otherwise, we kind of anticipated it. We have a bigger [rear] wing than the other guys.”

The rain could return for Sunday’s grand prix, with mixed conditions forecast. Hamilton is hopeful wet weather could bring Mercedes back into contention.

“It depends on the conditions we have,” he explained. “If it rains, we didn’t look too bad yesterday in the wet conditions.

“So I think either way we should be a little bit closer than we were today. Just hoping for a better race result than what we had last week.”

Asked if he thinks Mercedes could fight for victory at Suzuka, Hamilton said: “Ah, that’s a real reach to try and say we can get a win.

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“Those guys are nine tenths ahead. You don’t go from being nine tenths behind in qualifying to winning a race.”