Hamilton signals crucial Ferrari progress

Lewis Hamilton has confirmed the influence he can wield over his Ferrari is growing with each passing session.

Like for every other driver, Friday practice for the Japanese Grand Prix proved to be disjointed as a comfortable FP1 was followed by a second session ruined by four red flags as run plans went out of the window as there were only 26 minutes of track action.

But there were still laps on the board for Hamilton, and he has revealed that between sessions he was able to provide a level of input that was missing in Australia and China as he continued to grow accustomed to his new surroundings.

After finishing fourth quickest on the day, Hamilton said: "I've not been focusing massively on what everyone else is doing. I've been trying to focus on learning as much as I can, continuing to grow with the team.

"From weekend to weekend, I'm getting more comfortable in the surroundings, in the car, just remembering everything that's within the cockpit, also the settings, and I'm understanding more of the setup changes we can do.

"For example, between those two sessions, I'm starting to get to a point where I can push the car in a direction, knowing which tools I have to use to put the car in a better place.

"So I'm getting more comfortable with it, and I expect that to continue over all of the races."

Hamilton hails 'awesome' Suzuka

One of the red flags was for a horrendous crash involving Alpine's Jack Doohan, which caused a 23-minute delay, the cause of which has now been identified.

After conceding the crash to be "worrying", Hamilton at least expressed relief that Doohan was "okay".

That did not dampen his enthusiasm for the feelings he experienced of Suzuka for the first time in a Ferrari.

"This track is awesome," said Hamilton. "It never ceases to amaze you when you get on this circuit.

"It's quite gusty. You get a big headwind through the Esses, and that's when the track is the fastest. It felt great."

Overall, he felt the day "went well" although recognises Ferrari has work to do after seeing McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris four-tenths of a second quicker at the top of the timesheet.

"We got through all of the programme," said Hamilton. "We've got some performance we need to pick up. We're not the quickest at the moment but it's a good baseline."