Hamilton sets the pace after McLaren meet need for speed
Saturday, 21 July 2007
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McLaren promised Lewis Hamilton a faster car for Germany, following Ferrari's domination at the recent British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and on yesterday's showing here they made good on that.
Despite being packed off to bed early the previous day, in order to overcome the lingering effects of flu, the 22-year-old Englishman rose to the challenge to set the fastest time in the morning practice session and was only beaten into second place with five minutes left of the afternoon's by the French and British Grand Prix winner, Kimi Raikkonen. The gap between the Ferrari and the McLaren at the end of the day was 0.139 seconds, acceptable after a day of changing weather and track conditions.
In the morning, Hamilton had lapped in 1min 32.515sec, Raikkonen in 1min 32.751sec. Then a downpour during lunch washed away much of the rubber that had been laid down in that session, meaning the afternoon's was generally slower thanks to the lower level of grip and the fact that the circuit did not dry out completely. Hamilton's best was 1min 33.478sec, which finally succumbed as the yardstick when Raikkonen pushed his car round in 1min 33.339sec.
"As always, we focused on tyre evaluation and general set-up work," Hamilton said. "Obviously, this was affected a bit by the wet weather. However I found a good balance early on and am generally happy with the car.
"We have introduced some aerodynamic changes this weekend which so far seem to be working well," he added, "and I know the team has worked really hard since Silverstone. As I haven't run recently on a drying track I went out to gain some more experience, just in case we need it this weekend."
There were two minor errors from Hamilton: he spun in Turn 10, and later ran wide into the gravel in Turn Five, without sustaining any damage.
The mud-slinging that has been such a feature of the two teams' recent argument over the alleged theft of intellectual property from Ferrari was mercifully reduced here, having dominated the Silverstone weekend.
The leaks from some parties have been stronger than the recent flooding in Britain, but the situation will be resolved one way or another by an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council next Thursday. "We are confident that we will be completely exonerated," a McLaren insider said yesterday.
Raikkonen said after practice: "I am reasonably happy with today. We have proved we are competitive in pure terms on this circuit and we will have to wait for tomorrow to understand exactly where we are compared to our main rivals.
"I think there is still room for improvement in terms of the handling of the car, which is nevertheless good on both types of tyre we have here," the Finn added. "The weather, especially the wind, made the second session a bit complicated, but this problem was the same for everyone."
His team-mate, Felipe Massa, third fastest in 1min 33.590sec in the afternoon, said: "Overall, it has been quite a positive day. I think we have a competitive car. Clearly, we expect a very tight fight with our closest rivals, but we are up for it. We improved the set-up of the car from the first session to the second but we still have some work to do, especially in terms of performance over the first timed lap.
"It's a shame that on my last run on new softer tyres I had a bit of traffic in the first part of my first lap which cost me time," he added. "This afternoon, the track was still slippery at first because of the rain and then the wind made it difficult to drive."
Fernando Alonso was third fastest in the morning and then fourth in the afternoon in the other McLaren-Mercedes, so the usual symmetry of the two top teams at the head of the field was maintained. "Of course the weather played a role in today's practice, with the rain in between the two sessions," the reigning world champion said. "However, as we knew that it might rain, we focused on getting a lot of running in the first session.
"I think the weather will add an extra challenge this weekend, but we did do some wet weather running during last week's test at Spa [in Belgium] so we have a good basis. I like this track and hope for a strong performance this weekend."
There was encouraging news for Jenson Button, too, who is in desperate need of a fillip after his trying season with Honda. He set the eighth fastest time in both the morning and afternoon sessions. "Today's running was always going to be difficult because of the weather," he admitted. "The rain after the first session left the track slightly damp for the start of the second.
"The work we did was positive and our long-run pace was reasonable. The car worked well on both types of Bridgestone tyres, and then on brand new tyres at the end. To get a good lap round here you need a very good set-up and today is not a bad start. We're moving in the right direction," Button added.
