Formula One news

Solid start for McLaren

McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso was fastest in Friday's second free practice for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza with a time of 1min22.386, which was also the fastest time of the day. His team mate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest with 1min23.209. Fernando completed 30 laps and Lewis did 33. In the morning session, Lewis was third fastest with 1min22.618 (18 laps) whilst Fernando was fourth with 1min22.840 (12 laps). 

"Today went really well," said Alonso. " We had a good idea of our performance from the test last week, and although the conditions have changed slightly since then, we were able to get an understanding of the set-up for the race, and I am happy with how the car felt. I missed a little time in the morning session when the team were fixing a small problem with my steering, but it didn't really make too much difference to our overall results." 

Hamilton commented, "We went through our usual set-up and Bridgestone Potenza tyre comparison work and now have a good understanding of our competitiveness this weekend. The car feels really good to drive round here, and we have already made some good steps forward today. However you never know what everyone else is doing, so we will be looking for further improvements before qualifying tomorrow."

Team boss Ron Dennis added, "A solid start to the weekend for both drivers. We took our usual conservative approach to both sessions, so the results so far have been encouraging."

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