Lewis Hamilton will bounce back, says Sebastian Vettel

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Vettel trails the McLaren driver by just a point heading into Sunday's race in Japan having outscored the Briton by 45 points to 25 since the start of Hamilton's dismal run, which began with a gearbox failure at August's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton bounced back to win in Belgium but successive DNFs in Italy and Singapore - both after collisions with other drivers - have dented his title ambitions.

All eyes are on the 2008 champion this weekend as he bids to recover, but his Suzuka weekend got off to the worst possible start today when he was forced out of the opening practice following a crash on the exit of Degner Curve.

But Vettel is nevertheless adamant his rival will ultimately bounce back strongly from the trials of recent weeks.

"I think Lewis is one of the best drivers we have right now in Formula One. He's not very old but he already had quite a lot of experience, particularly with these kind of conditions," said Vettel.

"I don't see him struggling just because he didn't finish in the last two races. He's still in a better position, better than I am. I don't think it has changed much."