Lewis won at Suzuka after starting from second place in both 2014 and 2015; Race underway at 6am on Sunday
Monday 10 October 2016 10:44, UK
Lewis Hamilton is hoping history repeats itself after being beaten to pole position for the Japanese GP by Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton, who lost out to his team-mate by less than two hundredths of a second in qualifying on Saturday morning, has won the last two Japanese GPs after starting out from second behind Rosberg.
"History has shown you don't have to be on pole to get the win and I'm happy with qualifying," said Hamilton. "It's been a weekend a lot of work, getting the set-up right, some big changes went into qualifying.
"Considering that, to be that close, I was really happy with it. I did as well as I could I think. Nico did a great job and he has done all weekend."
After dominating the Malaysia GP weekend, Hamilton has been all at sea at Suzuka, consistently four tenths behind Rosberg, and admitted he didn't find qualifying plain sailing either.
"I was in no man's land heading into qualifying," he added. "We kind of veered off on a different set-up this weekend and it wasn't until qualifying I put it back. So some big changes and it's not that easy to go into qualifying with a completely different car, so that's why I am relatively happy considering what we did.
"We are in a good position for tomorrow."
Were Rosberg to win Sunday's race, he is guaranteed to win this year's world championship by finishing second in the final four races.
"It's been a good weekend so far, I've been feeling good out there," said the German. "The end of qualifying was pretty intense but I had a good feeling. I knew if I get the job done and put in a decent lap then it should be enough. I managed to do a good lap in the end.
"For sure, there's all the work to be done. I still need to get the job done on the start tomorrow, then race pace, strategy. We're feeling good about it and we think we can be quickest tomorrow."
