SUZUKA, Japan -- Mercedes may have dominated Friday practice at Suzuka but Valtteri Bottas says the team is expecting a much closer fight for pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton led one-twos for Mercedes in both sessions with Bottas 0.446s adrift in FP1 and 0.461s behind in FP2. In the afternoon session, only Bottas and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel managed to get within a second of Hamilton's blistering pace, albeit with a time that was 0.833s slower.