Hamilton leads way in afternoon

Eurosport - Sat, 11 Jul 12:50:00 2009

Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren led the way in Friday afternoon testing for the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

2009 British GP McLaren Lewis Hamilton - 0

Reigning champion Hamilton clocked one minute, 32.149 seconds with only seven minutes left in the session to take over from home favourite Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.

McLaren spent a good deal of the morning session - topped by Mark Webber of Red Bull - and some of the afternoon upgrading their bodywork, while the world champion also sported a new double diffuser.

It paid off for Hamilton, as team-mate Heikki Kovalainen's MP4-24 did not feature the upgrades and he finished 17th.

Again the session was interrupted early by rain, but once the track dried a flurry of quick laps were set on super-soft tyres.

Finn Kovalainen started it off with an hour remaining, before first Australian Webber then Briton Jenson took P1.

Vettel delighted fans braving the chilly weather by going top with 25 minutes to go, and with rain again threatening to fall, it looked as though the headlines would belong to Red Bull once again.

However, Vettel had to be content with second after Hamilton's quick run, which came a lap after a long trip to the run-off area at Mercedes Arena.

Button was third ahead of Webber, followed by Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Force India's Adrian Sutil, who had retired in the morning with a mechanical problem.

Rubens Barrichello enjoyed a better session in seventh, with Kazuki Nakajima of Williams sandwiched between Renault duo Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr behind the Brawn GP driver.

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 12th and 16th for Ferrari, while bottom was Giancarlo Fisichella, who spun his Force India into the barriers after only three timed laps as the track became wet.

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Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 138 - 157 of 177

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  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    all that effort just to come in the news really its a­ big performance..you know the good thing about beeing­ virgin is when people know that your a vrigin,­ hamiltton aint win any race this year.

    From Ra, on Sat 11 Jul 3:36AM

  2. lets hope this is the turning point for hamilton and­ give red bull and brawn gp a fight

    From Karla, on Sat 11 Jul 3:35AM

  3. :-))))))))))))

    From MGA, on Sat 11 Jul 3:25AM

  4. L$ewi$ will win. Mclaren is Best. Fact..

    From brucef1lee, on Sat 11 Jul 2:33AM

  5. POTTER n BURT are sh i tt ing them selves.

    From brucef1lee, on Sat 11 Jul 12:27AM

  6. HE IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!

    From Wilson-M, on Sat 11 Jul 12:22AM

  7. could be good. hope it works out for LH.

    From William S, on Fri 10 Jul 11:00PM

  8. Colin R, dont hold your breathe waiting for Colin Smith­ to answer a direct question. The only thing he is good­ at is dodging facts. Next thing is he will cut &­ paste some totally irrelevant article from a magazine­ and try to pass it off as his own enlightened­ knowledge.

    From the real adrian, on Fri 10 Jul 10:54PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Aggree wet race def Vettel and Timo Glock as an­ outsider for a good finnish hes a good driver in the­ wet PS still waiting for Touronroute to replie to my­ question re- silverstone sighting wing on test??????

    From mungo, on Fri 10 Jul 10:33PM

  10. Lewis is looking great. I hope this is the turning­ point. My problem is that the car they develop now is­ stuck with the kers system. That is not the car that is­ going to run next year, so bang, they will have to­ start from scratch again next year. Anyway im hoping­ for rain Hamilton to take it to Vettel cos vettel looks­ like a dwarf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From brianwalford, on Fri 10 Jul 10:30PM

  11. soniclance, are you sarah cos you're writing the­ same ignorant rubbish.

    From the real adrian, on Fri 10 Jul 10:15PM

  12. It does'nt matter what happens today or­ qualifying-it will be wet-so a stable car will­ win-Button or Vettel...........the rest of the @#$%­ will motor around..F1 is not that complicated.

    From richard belachek, on Fri 10 Jul 10:11PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    And this­­­ one:-)))
    .
    .
    Mr Touronroute
    How can we­ ever­ get­ your­­ defence ready­ if you constantly hide­ your­­ self.
    It­ is­ very­ frustrating and i may add­ bad­­ form!!

    From­­ Rumpole of the Bailey, on Fri 10­ Jul­­ 7:27PM

    From MGA, on Fri 10 Jul 10:08PM

  14. Don't­ know why you don't like this guy i­­­­ thought it­ was funny:-))
    Knock yer self out­­­­­ thumbing:-))
    .

    Ah Mr Touronroute
    I'm glad­­­ you've­ popped­­ in.
    Having consulted the case­­­ notes on this­ despicable­­ crime you are charged­­­ with.
    As discussed­ with you­­ earlier the insanity­­­ route seems the best­ way forward­­ as we feel you­­ will­ have no problem in­ convincing the­­ jury that­­ you are­ Barking mad.

    From­ Rumpole of the­ Bailey,­ on­ Fri 10­ Jul 7:25PM7 11 Report­ abuse

    From MGA, on Fri 10 Jul 10:07PM

  15. Well I just hate to think you might be wrong Toutou,­ but I would have thought from the very little I know,­ not having been to Silverstone today, that Brawn would­ be keen on looking at the computer stuff from the­ practice sessions. if anything they would be­ considering how their car was doing in Germany in case­ they had to take any urgent action.

    Also you posted­ that message just after you posted a message to the­ effect that Lewis or anyone could go fast on was it 10­ ls of fuel I think you said.

    Anway just wanted to­ clarify that you knew what you were saying and were­ right

    From Ellie, on Fri 10 Jul 10:06PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    MGA play nice now no need for bad language

    From mungo, on Fri 10 Jul 10:05PM

  17. mga behave yourself now there a good chap, I emjoyed­ Rumpoles comments ok

    From Ellie, on Fri 10 Jul 10:02PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Touronroute you said that you have been watching a­ (honda in certain colours testing out wings today at­ silverstone ) now are you hinting that it was a brawn­ YES or NO or was it a Honda YES or NO if the ansewer­ is yes to the first question the Brawn are breaking the­ rules by testing during the season on a car out side of­ race venue and race weekend. But if it is an actual­ Honda testing then so what they dont compete and have­ not regesterd to compete next season, unless you are­ saying that Honda are testing for Brawn in disguise so­ which is it ??????

    From mungo, on Fri 10 Jul 10:01PM

  19. Your just as bad in my book as touronroute and POTTER.

    From soniclance, on Fri 10 Jul 10:00PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show
    Don't­ know why you don't like this guy i­­­ thought it­ was funny:-))
    Knock yer self out­­­­ thumbing:-))
    .
    .
    Comment hidden due to its low­­ rating.­­ Show
    Ah Mr Touronroute
    I'm glad­­ you've­ popped­­ in.
    Having consulted the case­­ notes on this­ despicable­­ crime you are charged­­ with.
    As discussed­ with you­­ earlier the insanity­­ route seems the best­ way forward­­ as we feel you­ will­ have no problem in­ convincing the­­ jury that­ you are­ Barking mad.

    From­ Rumpole of the­ Bailey, on­ Fri 10­ Jul 7:25PM7 11 Report­ abuse

    From MGA, on Fri 10 Jul 9:56PM
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