Hamilton - No complaints

Championship leader quickest in session one

Last updated: 11th October 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hamilton - No complaints

Hamilton: Immediately on the pace

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Lewis Hamilton said he was "very happy" with his performance during Friday's practice sessions for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

The McLaren Mercedes driver was fastest in the opening session at the Fuji Speedway as he clocked a time of one minute 18.910 seconds before slipping down to third in the afternoon.

Toyota's Timo Glock sprung a surprise by topping session two, the German setting a time of 1:18.383s to edge Renault's Fernando Alonso by 0.043secs.

Nevertheless, Hamilton was satisfied with his day's work as he looks to increase his seven-point lead over Ferrari's Felipe Massa in the Drivers' Championship.

"I feel very happy with the way the day went," said Hamilton, who won last year's race. "The car is very competitive here and that is always a good sign that we can compete for a win this weekend.

"Fuji is a place I really enjoy. It is not the easiest of tracks because it requires a good set-up to get the best from the car but I had no complaints today.

In the first 90 minute-long session Hamilton went quickest shortly before the hour mark thanks to a time of 1:19.062s.

He then improved to 1:18.910s which remained the benchmark for the rest of the morning.

Hamilton finished 0.153s faster than Massa and the Englishman is confident he can stay at or near the sharp end of the field throughout the weekend.

"We were immediately on the pace and found very good balance straight away," Hamilton added.

"In the afternoon I did a promising longer run with no major problems and I feel confident about our pace for the weekend."

Traffic

Meanwhile, Massa once again finished one place behind Hamilton in the afternoon session, recording a time of 1:18.491s to go fourth quickest overall.

Although the Brazilian said he could have gone quicker but for traffic, he was happy with his overall performance.

"I am pleased with the first day in Japan," Massa said. "The balance of the car is very good both on the first timed lap and over a distance.

"The times are very close and maybe I could have gone a bit further up the order in the afternoon session if I had not encountered traffic on my last run on the soft tyres.

"I really want to do well this weekend and we will try to win and bring home the best result possible for the two Championships."

Red Bull's David Coulthard improved slightly from 19th in session one to 17th in the afternoon, with the Scot admitting he was finding grip hard to come by.

"I had a low grip through the last sector, which meant the car had a lot of oversteer and was sliding," he said.

"These cars don't generate high levels of slip angle and go fast so it means you lose some lap time but that is the challenge of this circuit."

But Jenson Button once again struggled in Honda's home race, finishing 17th and 20th in P1 and P2 respectively.

"I just had very little grip and I felt like the tyres were graining immediately," he said.

"We will have a look at the reasons for this ahead of qualifying tomorrow."