Hamilton surprised by Friday result

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he was pleasantly surprised to see his name at the top of the timesheets following the conclusion of practice in Belgium on Friday. On a circuit which McLaren had predicted not to be quickest on, the World Champion set the best lap time, albeit by only sixteen thousandths of a second.

With Timo Glock second to Hamilton, it is fair to say that Friday's results were not as predicted in Belgium as McLaren - which had tipped Red Bull as favourites - led the way from Toyota. "I'm happier today than I expected," Hamilton confessed. "We don't have as much downforce as some of the other teams so we're not as quick as we'd like to be, especially in the middle sector.

"Fortunately, however, we have KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) and can use it to our advantage in the first and third sectors; the car didn't feel fantastic today but we only really had one session to find a setup so we've got some changes to make overnight. Still, this is a massive improvement compared with Turkey or Silverstone and we look competitive, which is important, so we're not unhappy."

Team-mate Kovalainen was not quite in touch with his team leader and eventually dropped down to twelfth place after being eighth in the morning session. "I think slower speed corners suit our car better than high-speed stuff," Heikki said. "I guess we are still losing a bit of time in the high-speed corners compared to the fastest cars but we've definitely made some good improvements in this area and the car feels positive to drive and seems to be working quite well around here."

Source: GP Update