Positive start for McLaren

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in Friday’s first free practice session with 1m32.515 which was also the fastest lap of the day. In the afternoon, Lewis was second fastest with a 1m33.478. He completed 26 laps in the morning and 28 laps in the second session. Fernando Alonso was third fastest in the first practice with 1m32.932 (28 laps) and ended the afternoon session in fourth place with 1m33.637 (30 laps).

Lewis Hamilton “As always we focused on tyre evaluation and general set-up work. Obviously this was affected a bit by the wet weather. However I found a good balance early on and am generally happy with the car. We have introduced some aerodynamic changes this weekend which so far seem to be working well and I know the team has worked really hard since Silverstone. As I haven’t run recently on a drying track I went out to gain some more experience, just in case we need it this weekend.”

Fernando Alonso “Of course the weather played a role in today’s practice with the rain in between the two sessions. However as we knew that it might rain we focused on getting a lot of running in the first session. I struggled with low grip and oversteer but we are working on improving the balance. During the second session the track was drying all the time. I think the weather will add an extra challenge this weekend but we did do some wet weather running during last week’s test at Spa so we have a good basis. I like this track and hope for a strong performance this weekend.”

Ron Dennis “A positive start to a weekend where the weather might play an important role. Fernando and Lewis completed their programmes according to plan. The weather did affect the grip levels slightly but we are confident that we will have a competitive weekend.”

Norbert Haug “The first practice day at our second home grand prix after Silverstone looked good. We were fast and consistent achieving all our planned good mileage.”