SPEED KING LEWIS RULES IN THE RAIN

BORED pit-crew members made toy boats to float along the drenched paddock during the rain break at Suzuka but Lewis Hamilton went running before declaring himself well set for the Japanese Grand Prix. The Briton was second quickest in the dry and fastest in the wet during practice — banishing doubts over the performance of his Mercedes that he had held since last weekend in Malaysia. Hamilton, who leads the title race by 34 points, said: ‘The car is feeling much better. I’m glad we had the dry session for the first practice session. ‘In the second, there was a lot of rain. The car was not good in the wet last week so it was important to assess and see how it felt. It feels back to normal, so I’m ready to race.’ But Hamilton must beware. Nearest rival Sebastian Vettel set the day’s fastest time by two tenths of a second in the Ferrari.