McLaren's Lewis Hamilton prayed yesterday for another downpour to help tighten his grip on the Formula One title race in Japan this weekend.

The Briton splashed to victory in torrential rain at Fuji last year and said he would gladly see the heavens open again.

"I'll probably do the rain dance," Hamilton joked after clocking the third fastest time in free practice.

"It's a great track in the wet.

"Maybe if it rains we'll have a bigger gap but I think otherwise it's going to be very close."

Rain is threatened for today's qualifying, although forecasts for tomorrow's race predict clear weather.

Hamilton is recognised as being more confident in the wet than Brazilian Felipe Massa.

The Briton still sounded a note of caution despite being quicker than Massa in practice.

"Ferrari are probably a little bit quicker on the straight," said the youngster, who was third in Singapore two weeks ago while Massa failed to score after a botched pitstop.

"I think we're very close to them but it's practice day so you don't really know what's going on. When it gets to qualifying it will be another story. We'll be battling a lot closer.

"No doubt (Ferrari) will pull something out and they'll be quicker than they are now."

Drivers complained they could not see through their visors during last year's collision-packed race and Hamilton was happy for a dry practice run over the 4.563km Fuji layout.

"It was good to really test the car and push it to its limit,"

said Hamilton. "It's quite a short circuit but it's still a challenge.

"We made some good steps forward today. We showed we're comfortable.

"The car is competitive here and that's always a good sign that we can push for a win this weekend."