Hamilton fastest in France

Hamilton: quickest on day one

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Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets at the end of the opening session of a three-day test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.

The McLaren ace lapped the 3.593-km track layout in a best time of one minute 5.6 seconds.

Hamilton will hand over driving duties to his teammate Heikki Kovalainen on Friday, as the team attempt to prepare their car for the unique test of Monaco at the end of the month.

The sole Ferrari of championship leader Kimi Raikkonen was second quickest on Thursday, almost half a second slower than Hamilton having completed 19 more laps, while BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica was third after 124 laps.

Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber finished the day in fourth place ahead of stable mate Sebastian Vettel, who impressed in the new Toro Rosso car with a time of 1min 6.372secs, less than three hundredths of a second behind Webber's sister car.

Nico Rosberg, who completed a mammoth 154 laps in the Williams FW30, was sixth.

Alex Wurz was seventh for Honda with a best time of 1:06.681, while Toyota tested a number of Monaco-specific aerodynamic revisions as Timo Glock went eighth fastest.

Tonio Liuzzi was ninth for Force India, while Renault's test driver Luca di Grassi was the slowest of the 10 drivers on show, posting a best lap almost two seconds slower than Hamilton's benchmark.

Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 01:05.600 84 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 01:06.098 103 laps
03 R. Kubica BMW 01:06.177 124 laps
04 M. Webber Red Bull 01:06.348 93 laps
05 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:06.372 91 laps
06 N. Rosberg Williams 01:06.571 154 laps
07 A. Wurz Honda 01:06.681 131 laps
08 T. Glock Toyota 01:06.936 93 laps
09 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 01:07.346 106 laps
10 L. Di Grassi Renault 01:07.430 146 laps