The Silver managed a very good start to the racing weekend as they did both Mercedes racers dominated on both free practice sessions, with Bottas ahead of Hamilton both times. Mercedes has brought an improved aerodynamic package to Suzuko with new side stabilizers. He dominated the first free practice Bottas, who was the only one left close to his teammate Lewis Hamiltonand everyone else was a second behind. A few hours later, the Finn repeated the exercise, finishing behind Hamilton Max Verstappen, followed by both Ferrari.
Results another free workout would be this time may be significantly more important than otherwise, as the results achieved by the racers in FP2 may also count as a formula for ranking by starting places if the qualifications, which have been postponed to Sunday morning, are dropped.
"A very positive day," je Bottas commented today’s happenings on the track. “We tested some new components and it worked out well. The weather also endured, so we were able to do quite a few laps, and the feeling behind the wheel was really good this time as well. We will try to improve a few things, but we were good today in setting up the fast lap as well as in the long runs. "
"I had a lot of fun," added the Finn, for whom Suzuka is one of his most popular racetracks. Bottas otherwise had some small problems when he did spun before the start of his fast lap and thus disrupted Hamilton's attempt, but the British were also pleased with what had been achieved.
