2008 Formula 1 World Championship, round 9: British Grand Prix, Free Practice 1+2, Friday, 4th July 2008

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Silverstone, Jul 04, 2008

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton finished Friday�s second Free Practice for the Santander British Grand Prix in Silverstone, the first of the team�s two consecutive home Grands Prix, in first and third positions respectively. Heikki did 35 laps and set a best time of 1m19.989 whilst Lewis completed 31 laps and ended up with a 1m20.543. In the morning session, Heikki was second fastest with 1m19.587 (15 laps) whilst Lewis was third with 1m19.623 (13 laps).

Lewis (MP4-23 02)
Heikki (MP4-23 05)

Practice Session One:

Lewis:
10:02: out/in
10:37: 5 laps, best 1:19.916
11:19: 7 laps, best 1:19.623 (3rd)

Heikki:
10:03: out/in
10:35: 7 laps, best 1:19.682
11:22: 7 laps, best 1:19.587 (2nd)

Practice Session Two:

Lewis:
14:03: 6 laps, best 1:21.282
14:24: 11 laps, best 1:21.028
14:51: 11 laps, best 1:21.074
15:21: 3 laps, best 1:20.543 (3rd)

Heikki:
14.02: 6 laps, best 1:21.387
14.24: 7 laps, best 1:20.353
14:49: 10 laps, best 1:19.989 (1st)
15:16: 12 laps, best 1:20.575

Lewis Hamilton
�It was good to see so many fans at the circuit so early this morning! Although we�d only tested here last week, the track felt quite different today. The car�s balance felt very good despite my having a little grassy moment at Turn Eight. Into the afternoon, the car felt increasingly consistent, and I feel we�ve got a good benchmark for the weekend ahead.�

Heikki Kovalainen
�We seemed to find a nice balance almost immediately and waited for the track to come to us throughout both sessions. The trick here is to balance the set-up between the high- and slow-speed corners and I feel that we�re getting closer to achieving that. We shouldn�t get carried away with being fastest on Friday afternoon, but we�ve got a good basis for Sunday.�

Ron Dennis
�The British Grand Prix is the home race for all the hard-working people at Woking and Brixworth and, as such, it is a particularly important event for everybody at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. Today�s practice performances look encouraging and neither driver reported any major problems � but we remain mindful that there is still much work to complete and are fully aware of the threat of wet weather for the remainder of the weekend.�

Norbert Haug
�A productive first test day with good and consistent lap times by Heikki and Lewis. However, the weather forecast for tomorrow and Sunday predicts heavy rain, therefore today�s findings will be only of limited help.�



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