Friday 18th July 2008
Lewis Hamilton made it two from two in Germany on Friday when he posted the fastest time in the day's second practice session.
The McLaren driver, who is determined to win this weekend's grand prix and take the sole lead in the Drivers' standings, clocked a 1:15.025 to beat the two drivers that he is tied with at the top of the Championship, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.
Report: Sebastian Vettel set the first competitive lap time of the afternoon, a 1:18.431. The German, who recently signed on as David Coulthard's replacement at Red Bull for next season, continued lapping, shaving almost two seconds off his time before he was overhauled by the two McLaren drivers.
Lewis Hamilton hit the top of the timesheets with a 1:15.817 while Heikki Kovalainen went P2. The Finn, though, dropped fast with Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld both edging ahead of him. Kimi Raikkonen slotted into third place behind Massa as the two Ferraris and McLarens fought for supremacy.
Sebastien Bourdais pulled in his Toro Rosso garage with a technical problem that almost caught out Hamilton when the McLaren driver found himself suddenly behind a slowish STR3 entering the stadium section. The Brit, though, managed to avoid contract. Kazuki Nakajima also had problems as he ventured out only to return to his garage without setting a time.
Behind the McLaren/Ferrari battle for the top four slots, Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica fought for a top eight time - the six drivers separated by a quarter of a second.
Just past the halfway mark Massa overhauled Hamilton with a 1:15.722, afterward heading through the pits for a practice start before returning to the track.
Nakajima returned to the track with half an hour left of the session after his team worked furiously to fix his car. The Williams driver went P18 on his first timed of the session.
Massa, using the soft rubber, improved to a 1:15.741 with Hamilton following close behind, just 0.017s off the pace.
The final five minutes of the session saw almost the entire field put on the softer option tyres in a bid to put in that final fantastic lap.
The session ended just moments after Hamilton put in a blistering 1:15.025, which consisted of three fastest sector times, to take the P1 slot away from Massa.
Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.025 37 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.722 31 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.760 34 laps
04 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:15.990 37 laps
05 M. Webber Red Bull 1:16.017 25 laps
06 F. Alonso Renault 1:16.230 38 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.355 41 laps
08 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.363 36 laps
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.377 40 laps
10 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:16.378 35 laps
11 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.422 41 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.530 45 laps
13 J. Button Honda 1:16.542 38 laps
14 R. Barrichello Honda 1:16.677 28 laps
15 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:16.734 42 laps
16 T. Glock Toyota 1:16.781 44 laps
17 K. Nakajima Williams 1:16.829 21 laps
18 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.860 14 laps
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:17.008 39 laps
20 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.047 37 laps
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