Can anyone stop Hamilton in Japan?

It appears only Typhoon Kong Rey can stop Lewis Hamilton at the Japanese Grand Prix after the championship leader dominated Friday practice at Suzuka. Hamilton was almost half a second clear of the field in both sessions, with title rival Sebastian Vettel unable to get anywhere near the Mercedes.

Hamilton was 0.994 seconds clear of Vettel in FP1, a deficit that Vettel could only trim to 0.833secs in FP2's qualifying simulations.

Ferrari have generally turned down power on Fridays this year, but the Silver Arrows' huge step since Singapore is evident and Vettel reported blistered rear tyres in long runs to suggest the Scuderia have much work to do if they are to close the gap over the weekend.

That looks suspiciously like a left-rear blister... ???? #JapaneseGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/IKb9iewMVd — Formula 1 (@F1) October 5, 2018

Rain and wind is set to cause havoc with both qualifying and the race, but it is Hamilton that has dealt best with inclement conditions in 2018 – Vettel spinning out of the lead in Germany before losing out to his rival in wet qualifying in Hungary and Belgium.

Valtteri Bottas was Hamilton's closest rival on Friday, albeit more than four tenths adrift on one-lap pace, with Hamilton also averaging half a second per lap quicker than his team-mate on long run practice.

Hamilton even took to team radio to outline how serene his progress was, telling Pete Bonington: "This track is awesome! I'm having the best day."

The champion's mood wasn't dampened by a scary near-miss with Pierre Gasly in FP1, which required evasive action and earned the Toro Rosso man a reprimand.

Gasly's day got worse as he was confined to the garage until the final 15 minutes of FP2 due to a fuel pump problem, denying him the chance to stretch Honda's new power unit which is rumoured to have jumped ahead of Renault's.

VIDEO: Hamilton's scary moment with Gasly
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