Formula One news

Hamilton 'lacking speed' at Silverstone

Lewis Hamilton continued to suffer from too little downforce on his way to higher-than-expected eighth and seventh positions in free practice at Silverstone. The McLaren driver, who won this race on the way to his first championship success last year, completed Friday almost a full second slower than fastest man Sebastian Vettel.

With a strong engine but McLaren MP4-24 lacking from mechanical grip, Hamilton achived better than most home fans' expectations in practice. "It took a while to get used to the car this morning," Lewis said. "It feels a little different from what we've been running in previous races; generally, I'm very happy with the balance but, with a revised car and on a high-speed circuit like this, it takes a bit longer than usual to find the limit."

Lewis' father, Anthony, watches on from the McLaren garage

Having already admitted that defending his crown is an impossible task this season, Hamilton remains realistic, albeit with added support. "It's no secret that we're lacking speed in the faster sections but the car wasn't too bad today," he went on. "The balance was good; we've made some setup changes and it now appears to be fairly consistent, but this has already turned out to be one of the best weekends of the year for me because I'm at my home Grand Prix and the fans are incredible here - I've seen and felt their support from the very first lap I did today."

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