McLaren lead Friday practice at Indy

Fernando Alonso emerged fastest from both of Friday’s free practice sessions for the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis. In the morning, Fernando did 16 laps and set a best time of 1m11.925 followed by 35 laps and a best time of 1m12.156 in the second session. Lewis Hamilton was third and second fastest, with lap times of 1m12.628 and 1m12.309 respectively. Lewis completed 21 laps in the first session and 34 laps in the afternoon.

Fernando Alonso “It’s nice to be back in Indianapolis and so far things are looking promising. As I have said before this track has never been kind to me, but I really want to do well this weekend. The car has been performing strongly at the last couple of races and today in practice, but I am sure that both Ferrari and BMW will be at the front as well. We completed our normal Friday practice programme looking at tyre evaluation and general set-up work. There is a lot of data to consider overnight, but so far things are looking good for the team.”

Lewis Hamilton “As this was the first time I have ever driven at the Indianapolis track I spent some time just getting to know the circuit. The really tricky bit is the mid-section as it’s very tight and twisty. We spent our time fine tuning the set-up and evaluating the two different tyre options provided by Bridgestone this weekend. In the first part of the second session I ran a little wide and did some minor damage to the aerodynamic fences which took a little time for the guys to repair. We have a pretty good idea of where we are going, and it looks like we should be competitive, but as always Friday is only the start of the weekend – there is a long way to go.”

Ron Dennis “It’s nice to be back in Indianapolis where we completed our scheduled programme for Friday. Both Fernando and Lewis focussed on tyre evaluation, set-up work and for Lewis some general track familiarisation. We look forward to what we hope will be a competitive weekend for the team.”

Norbert Haug “A good start to the weekend with both drivers completing their planned programmes. We look competitive but the lap times are very close so it’s too early to judge.”

Fernando Alonso MP4-22 08
Lewis Hamilton MP4-22 01
T-car MP4-22 03