Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen finished today’s second free practice session for the European Grand Prix in fifth and sixth positions respectively. Driving on the new Valencia street circuit, Lewis completed 31 laps and set a fastest time of 1m39.712; Heikki ran 30 laps and set a 1m39.954 best. This morning, Lewis was third with a 1m40.822 (21 laps) while Heikki came home fifth with a 1m41.163 (23 laps).
This weekend also marks the 200th grand prix for the McLaren-Mercedes partnership, which began at the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix and has achieved 57 Formula 1 victories, 59 pole positions, two drivers' championships (for Mika Häkkinen in 1998 and '99) and one constructors' title (in 1998).
Practice Session One:
10.04: out / in
10.35: 5 laps, best 1:42.118
10.50: 6 laps, best 1:41.272
11.12: 9 laps, best 1:40.822 (3rd)
Practice Session Two:
14.05: 5 laps, best 1:40.671
14.24: 10 laps, best 1:40.622
14.56: 9 laps, best 1:40.134
15.19: 7 laps, best 1:39.712 (5th)
"Considering the dustiness of the track, we made a very promising start on set-up this morning. We were able to go quicker on each run without changing too much and we took a very good baseline into the afternoon session. In P2, our adjustments were again spot-on but the sheer volume of traffic meant it was difficult to immediately confirm our final set-up changes. Nonetheless, we’re in pretty good shape and I’m looking forward to tomorrow."
