Lewis Hamilton relishing Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull battle in Suzuka

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton relishing Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull battle in Suzuka

We hope Lewis is right!

Matthew Scott

Wednesday 2 October 2019 16:30

Lewis Hamilton is relishing a three-way fight for dominance at the Japanese Grand Prix with Red Bull and Ferrari expected to bring the fight to Mercedes.

The Silver Arrows have won at Suzuka each year in the V6 Hybrid era, but Ferrari are on a fine run of form and Red Bull are bringing upgrades in a bid to succeed in Honda's home race.

Charles Leclerc has secured pole position for the last four races, with Ferrari having finally unlocked the SF90's potential, but Hamilton won in Russia last time out and is looking forward to the challenge Japan brings.

"It's going to be awesome," Hamilton said. "Suzuka is incredible.

"It's one of the most exciting parts of the year and now so more than ever before because you've got three solid, incredibly fast teams, particularly pushing each other and having the ability, the potential to win a race.

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"I have no idea who is going to be quickest there. Obviously, at the moment, Ferraris are quite dominant but maybe it will suit our car a little bit more, who knows? Or the Red Bull, maybe.

"So it's exciting to go there because that's a serious driver's track, one of the best ones of the whole year.

"The tarmac run-off areas that you see here or around the world… it's proper grass and gravel and walls so it's the ultimate test, I would say, that track, for the car and also for the driver. I just hope that we get to have a good race there."

Leclerc sees no reason why Ferrari should not be quick again, having proved their pace on a variety of recent tracks recently.

He said: "We've been quick in Singapore, we've been quick in Monza and both of them are the complete opposites so I think it shows that we are doing some progress so there are no reasons for us to be very slow in Japan, but it doesn't mean that we will have an easy life.

"I'm pretty sure that Mercedes and also Red Bull will be very strong there."