It was another race to forget for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton despite the positive noises he was making at the beginning of the race weekend.
His swansong season with Mercedes isn’t going to plan despite saying the car is feeling the best it has done for three years at the start of the event in Japan.
Commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1, Anthony Davidson was reflecting on one particular incident during the Japanese Grand Prix the 39-year-old won’t want to watch back any time soon.
Mercedes looked very strong in practice and appeared to be in a position to potentially challenge McLaren and Ferrari.
However, when it came to qualifying, although both cars were in the top ten, George Russell could only outpace Yuki Tsunoda, while Lewis Hamilton would at least be pleased he got the best of Charles Leclerc.
Unfortunately, neither car really made much progress during the Grand Prix, leading to another small points haul after four races.
Anthony Davidson was particularly impressed by the move Lando Norris pulled off on Hamilton going into the first corner.
The 24-year-old didn’t have a perfect race and his strategy was baffling, to say the least.
However, both drivers can probably raise a few questions in their respective team meetings when it comes to the big calls their strategists made.
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Anthony Davidson praises Lando Norris for Lewis Hamilton’s overtake
The red flag after the incident involving Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon provided a conundrum for plenty of teams.
As one lap had technically been driven, every driver was allowed to change tyres before the restart and not have to worry about using different compounds.
Mercedes took the gamble knowing they had two sets of new hard tyres and started Hamilton and Russell on one set with the hope they could execute a one-stop strategy.
However, 20 laps in both drivers were complaining about the state of their rubber, with the much hotter temperatures playing their part.
As the drivers in front of them began to pit, they soon picked off the Mercedes on their way back through the grid.
Lando Norris was one of those drivers and his move on Hamilton drew plenty of praise from Davidson and David Croft.
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Talking about the middle stint of the race, Croft said: “Now, another 10 miles per hour of extra pace for Lando Norris, he needs to get this overtake done.
“[Max] Verstappen back out into the race, therein on the inside is Lewis Hamilton, on the outside is Lando Norris. Norris goes around the outside of Lewis Hamilton, that was a timely overtake, he needed to make it stick and I don’t think he lost a huge amount of time behind the Mercedes when he came up to Lewis Hamilton.”
Davidson added: “You can see how aggressive he was, it was a brilliant move from Norris there.
“Didn’t quite have the straight line speed he wanted even with the DRS open, so he had to commit around the outside of turn one, real great stuff between those two very experienced drivers and I thought for a moment Lewis was going to try to stick his nose back in there in turn two, but ultimately he did the right thing.”
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There are a few positives for Hamilton to take when looking back at the race in Japan and the move from Norris that impressed Davidson so much.
One thing he would have seen is the speed of the Ferraris and the impressive tactical nous of Frederic Vasseur’s team.
He has all of this to look forward to next season before major regulation changes in 2026.
Sebastian Vettel has shared what could make his move to Maranello difficult, but the seven-time world champion has proved to be adaptable before.
Bernie Collins has also warned of a ‘massive’ issue he could face, but that’s for him to worry about in the future.
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