Formula One news

Smooth start for Hamilton and Alonso

The McLaren team completed Friday's first and second free practice session without any problems. It promises to be a close fight between McLaren and Ferrari this weekend as both teams are setting almost equal times.

Fernando Alonso was second in today's second free practice session. He commented: "A very close practice session, with no problems throughout. As usual we worked on our set-up in the morning and made some good progress there, and then in the afternoon we concentrated on the tyre comparison. It is good to be back in China as I like this circuit. I expect it should be a very interesting weekend with the top four cars being very competitive here."

Lewis Hamilton also enjoyed a trouble free session. He said: "Both sessions went pretty smoothly, and I was able to get a good handle on this circuit, the sixth new one for me this year and completed the planned programme for today. It is a nice track, and the car felt good to drive. I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend where I expect that we have every chance for another strong result."

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• 13 Aug.
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• 10 Aug.
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• 09 Aug.
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