Hamilton goes fastest in Barcelona testing session
Tuesday, 26 Feb 2008 14:43
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is fastest in Barcelona testing
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton clocked the fastest time on the first day of the final multi-team formula one testing session in Barcelona today.
The Briton, who finished second in the drivers' championship in his debut season last year, topped the standings at the Circuit de Catalunya after going round in one minute and 22.276 seconds.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who pipped Hamilton to the title in 2007, was second after registering a fastest lap of 1m 22.319secs.
Retired seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was also involved in the testing session for Ferrari and was third-quickest with a fastest lap of 1m 22.428secs.
Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was fifth behind Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, whose own team-mate Nico Rosberg was sixth.
Fernando Alonso, who is driving for Renault this season after leaving McLaren under a cloud at the end of last term, came seventh and was nearly a second off the pace of Hamilton - his former colleague at the British team.
The session began with a damp track, which prevented the teams from running flat out around the tricky Spanish circuit.
However, it later dried out and allowed the big players to complete plenty of test laps.
Hamilton managed to get through a total of 78 laps while Kovalainen registered 71, allowing McLaren to complete testing on a number of new components and car modifications ahead of the 2008 F1 season.
The two Ferraris were able to stay on track for slightly longer as Raikkonen and Schumacher got through 82 and 83 laps, respectively.