Lewis Hamilton heads into Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix believing he has the measure of world championship rival Felipe Massa.

Both men were out-paced by the Toyota of Timo Glock and Renault's Fernando Alonso in today's opening practice at the sweeping Fuji circuit.

However, Hamilton beat Massa in both the morning and the afternoon sessions to put a marker on a race the McLaren driver won in the rain last year.

Hamilton, who leads Ferrari's Massa by seven points with three races to go, said: “Fuji is a place I really enjoy. It's not the easiest of tracks because it requires a good set-up, but I had no complaints today.”

The British ace, fastest overall in the morning but whose time of 1min 18.910sec was then beaten by Glock's 1min 18.383sec, went on: “We were immediately on the pace and found a very good balance straight away.

“In the afternoon I did a promising longer run with no major problems and I feel confident about our pace for the rest of the weekend.”

Hamilton admitted this week his inexperience, plus controversies surrounding McLaren's part in the Spygate scandal and his bitter relationship with then team-mate Fernando Alonso, cost him a maiden title in 2007.

But after watching his man finish third in the afternoon, one place ahead of Massa, McLaren chief Ron Dennis revealed how his team is being driven by a new will to win.

Dennis said: “Whoever I talk to in our team, I notice the same thing: we're more together, more focused, more committed and more motivated than ever before. That comradeship will persist throughout this race weekend and throughout the final two weekends of the season.”

Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen was fifth today, but Massa's team-mate has hit back at critics who believe he has lost his cutting edge.

Raikkonen has not scored in the last four races, and his last win came in Spain back in April. The Finn trails Hamilton by 27 points with a maximum of 30 up for grabs, yet he insisted: “I haven't lost anything. We had a good start to the season but we made a few mistakes, a few bad choices, and we never recovered.

“We should have won more races but we didn't for many reasons. It hasn't changed my way of driving, or my hunger, or my racing because I still want to win.”

Meanwhile, a new row is brewing over the decision to drop the Canadian Grand Prix from next year's calendar, leaving the sport without a race in north America for the first time since the world championship began in 1950.

It is understood the Canadian organisers could not meet new financial demands made by Formula One's promoter Bernie Ecclestone, and Ecclestone has now been asked to explain why.

The United States GP had already been lost to the sport and Honda's Nick Fry said: “We are hugely disappointed. We need to look at how we not only get back Canada, but back to America because it's such an important market.”