Formula One news

Hamilton happy with first run in new McLaren

Lewis Hamilton drove the 2008 McLaren for the first time today at the Jerez circuit. He left the garage at 09:10 and completed over 456kms and 103 laps during the course of the day. Hamilton joined new teammate, Heikki Kovalainen at the Spanish circuit for the first of four days of testing over the coming week. Kovalainen also passed the 100 lap mark, as the Finn clocked up a total of 101.

Following yesterday's session, which saw Kovalainen and test driver Pedro de la Rosa take both MP4-23 chassis for their initial runs, work at the test saw Lewis and Heikki continue to focus on both drivers and team familiarising themselves with the 2008 challenger. Yesterday was the first time in the history of the team that it had completed two chassis for the first day of testing.

Hamilton and Kovalainen will remain in Jerez for the final day of the week tomorrow. De la Rosa and fellow test driver Gary Paffett will take over testing duties on Monday with Hamilton and Kovalainen returning to the wheel for the final two days of the session on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"It was fantastic to get my hands on the MP4-23 this morning in Jerez," Hamilton said. "I saw the completed car for the first time on Monday at the team's launch in Stuttgart and I have been pretty impatient since then! My first run was at 09:10 and my first impressions are encouraging. I covered over 103 laps, which is 456kms, today. Considering this is only the second day the car has been on track, I am pretty happy with that. We have a lot of work to do, but now we have a real understanding of where we are starting from. I will be back in the MP4-23 with Heikki tomorrow and I am looking forward to continuing the programme and moving forward."

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