Lew Set Fastest Lap In The Morning, Kimi In The Afternoon

Topics:  British Grand Prix

Anthony Fontanelle
July 12, 2007

The Friday before a Grand Prix is given to teams and drivers to tune their cars in preparation for the race on Sunday. The next race is the British Grand Prix and the practice session for the race in Silverstone is now on the books and British fans are now on the edge of their seats.

Britain’s own Lewis Hamilton, the explosive rookie driving for McLaren, a British team will be making his debut as a Formula One driver in his home country. With eight podium finishes out of his first eight races, the rookie sensation became an overnight superstar in Britain. The pressure is on the youngster as he is expected to perform well in the British Grand Prix.

During the first practice session Friday, the young Formula One driver gave British Formula One fans something to cheer about as he posted the fastest lap time ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

But during the afternoon practice session it was the Iceman who posted the fastest lap time while Lew only managed to take fourth behind Raikkonen, Massa, and Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher.

Even after the fourth place finish at the afternoon practice session, the rookie sensation says that he is having a good time at Silverstone. “It is great to be here at my first home Grand Prix and to be driving a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One car in front of all the British supporters,” said Hamilton.

“Today has been really positive, and the work we have done seems to be taking us in the right direction.”

“The car feels great to drive around this track, which is one of my favorites, and I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend where I expect us to remain strong. We gathered a lot of useful data which we will look at overnight and then continue our work tomorrow,” added Hamilton about his MP4-22 with Mercedes-Benz engine and other racing parts such as Mercedes-Benz wheel bearing and the likes.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen is satisfied with their runs on Friday. He said that they will still be improving their cars for the qualifyings session on Saturday. “It was a good day,” said the Iceman. “We worked in a different way to usual, covering a high mileage. I would say we have a good base from which we can improve the car for qualifying and the race. We have to do well and we will give it our all. Track conditions were a bit difficult because of the wind, while it seems that, compared to the test two weeks ago, the track surface is a bit slipperier.”

“The tires seem very similar in terms of performance, give that we I have done almost the same lap time on the hards and the softs. As usual on Friday, there are so many unknowns in terms of the order among the teams. We must wait and see how the weekend develops.”

Kimi Raikkonen is currently fourth in the driver’s championship standings with 42 points to his credit. He trails teammate Felipe Massa by five points. Hamilton leads the standings with 64 points. Double world champion and Hamilton’s teammate Fernando Alonso is in second. Interestingly, all these four drivers each have two wins this season.

Source:  Amazines.com