Lewis Hamilton says he is not too sure why it appears as though the Mercedes has improved ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, after the Silver Arrows looked stronger in practice.

Both Hamilton and team-mate George Russell looked about as competitive as they have all season so far on Friday, with Russell in particular impressing as he went second fastest in FP1 and then fastest of all in FP2.

It is, of course, early days in the weekend and you get nothing for topping practice but the Mercedes did look a bit better to drive, and the porpoising, though still a factor, appeared to have settled down at least a little bit.

Indeed, it seems as though Merc have made even just a small step in the right direction and Hamilton admitted he wasn't too sure why that was post-running, though he was quick to say that he's not getting too excited yet and there are still things to improve, even if there are positives to take forwards.

"It feels similar to me," he said via Sky Sports.

"We seem to be quicker here, and later on they were explaining to us that we definitely have improved in some way - and I'm not exactly sure why that is.

"We still have the bouncing, so we haven't cured it, but bit by bit we're improving the car.

"There are definitely positive elements to take from today.

"I'm still struggling with the car - George looked great out there - but we're trying a lot of different things. We'll converge and hopefully improve."

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 06: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at the Miami International Autodrome on May 06, 2022 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The real business begins later on today, then, with a final practice session before qualifying kicks off at 9pm BST.

Both Russell and Hamilton will hope that they can be in the mix for the front few rows based on Friday's performance, too, but given the way this season has been up and down it makes sense that they are also trying to temper expectations at the moment.