McLaren-Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton shows the way in practice for Sunday's German GP at Hockenheim.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton has declared himself pleased with the work done during practice for this weekend's German Grand Prix, after topping the times in both sessions on Friday.

Hamilton set his best time - a 1 minute 15.025 seconds, in the afternoon session, when the track was drier and the temperatures were warmer than those seen in the morning. Hamilton was almost seven tenths faster than the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who was 'best of the rest'.

In the morning the Englishman had also been quickest and while initially drivers faced a wet circuit, the track dried and lap times fell rapidly, with Bridgestone's dry grooved tyres being used in the latter third of the session.

"The car felt quite different this afternoon compared to this morning's running. Maybe the wind had picked up, or changed direction, but the car didn't feel as stable," said Lewis, who set his best effort near the end of FP2. "But by the end of the session, however, the car felt a lot more consistent - we found a good direction with the tyres and the set-up and so things look positive for tomorrow."

Heikki Kovalainen meanwhile was also on the pace in the sister MP4-23 and he was second quickest in practice 1 and fourth in practice 2, ending proceedings second overall in the combined times.

"The front-end of the car felt very good, but I felt less comfortable with the rear of the car, particularly in some of the slow-speed corners," admitted the Finn. "But we made a number of small changes to the set-up and, by the middle of the session, I definitely felt I could push harder and found improved handling under both braking and traction. A good start to our weekend's work."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis was also pleased with how the weekend's has started, what is a special event, as it is a home race for engine partner Mercedes and one all the team is determined to do well on.

"Both Lewis and Heikki enjoyed a trouble-free opening day of practice, and while we don't know the respective fuel loads of our rivals, we nonetheless feel comfortable with our pace. As the second of the team's two home races, this is an important event for everybody - particularly for our colleagues in Stuttgart, thousands of whom join us this weekend," Dennis underlined.

"Lewis's lap at the end of second practice looked extremely impressive - but we're fully aware that there's a lot of work ahead and that this will be an exciting and closely-contested grand prix."

"Friday's best time by Lewis was a good start to our home Grand Prix, the second one after Silverstone a fortnight ago," continued Mercedes boss Norbert Haug. "Before that we have been fast and consistent - now we will try to maintain this form for tomorrow and Sunday."