Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of the two Friday free practice sessions at Hockenheim to give himself and the
McLaren team the upper hand heading into day two of the German Grand Prix.
The Briton headed a 1-2 for McLaren on the combined timesheets after the rest of the field failed to better either his or team-mate
Heikki Kovalainen's best efforts, but Hamilton increased his advantage over the pack by lowering his own fastest lap to 1min 15.025secs. That was enough to enjoy a 0.697secs cushion over
Felipe Massa in the second session, and an extended 0.641secs gap back to his team-mate.
The bare figures suggest an easy ride for Hamilton, but the reality was different until the waning moments of the 90-minute session, when he managed to find the right combination of set-up, tyres and track space to allow him to threaten the 1min 14s. Massa had previously traded times and top spot with the McLaren man before accepting that second place was to be his lot.
The second
Ferrari, driven by world champion
Kimi Raikkonen, slotted into third as the Finn lapped just 0.038secs slower than his team-mate, while Kovalainen rounded out the expected top four with a lap of 1min 15.990secs that failed to improve on his morning time. That 1min 15.666secs effort, set almost as the flag came out, was good enough to keep Kovalainen second overall on the combined sheets.
Between the top four and last of all
Giancarlo Fisichella, the remainder of the combined order mirrored that of the second session, with
Mark Webber moving up to fifth - and 'best of the rest' - for
Red Bull Racing, ahead of
Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was one of only three drivers, along with Kovalainen and
Kazuki Nakajima, who failed to improve in the better conditions second time around, but was still sixth fastest on the final two timesheets of the day.
![Lewis Hamilton. McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23. Hockenheim test. July 18. [Pic credit: McLaren-Mercedes]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/463572.jpg)
