Formula One news

McLaren drivers happy with first day at Silverstone

McLaren drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton finished Friday's second Free Practice for the Santander British Grand Prix in Silverstone in first and third positions respectively. Kovalainen did 35 laps and set a best time of 1m19.989 whilst Hamilton completed 31 laps and ended up with a 1m20.543. In the morning session, Heikki was second fastest with 1m19.587 (15 laps) whilst Lewis was third with 1m19.623 (13 laps).

Hamilton said about his two free practice sessions in front of his home crowd: "It was good to see so many fans at the circuit so early this morning! Although we'd only tested here last week, the track felt quite different today. The car's balance felt very good despite my having a little grassy moment at Turn Eight. Into the afternoon, the car felt increasingly consistent, and I feel we've got a good benchmark for the weekend ahead."

Kovalainen commented: "We seemed to find a nice balance almost immediately and waited for the track to come to us throughout both sessions. The trick here is to balance the set-up between the high- and slow-speed corners and I feel that we're getting closer to achieving that. We shouldn't get carried away with being fastest on Friday afternoon, but we've got a good basis for Sunday."

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