McLaren prodigy leads the pack for second day in a row

Lewis Hamilton can’t be touched at Hockenheim. He was the only driver to dip under 1:15.00 at the German track yesterday, in a McLaren that featured a new front-wing design. Nico Rosberg put in a solid stint for second place, perhaps a consequnce of Williams now placing more emphasis on this year’s car, rather than the 2009 development programme. World champ Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari, less than half a second off McLaren’s pace.

In a brief interview after Tuesday’s session, Lewis admitted that he was NOT thinking about sacking his dad (despite what Marca thinks), and that he believes the 2008 championship will go down to the last race of the season. The British driver also revealed that after his stunning win at Silverstone, he was in bed by 11pm after a celebration dinner with his family - not exactly the behaviour of F1’s greatest ever playboy.

Full timesheet below…

Hockenheim test, Tuesday 8 July

1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 01:14.872 (101 laps completed)

2. Nico Rosberg (Williams) 01:15.257 (117 laps)
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 01:15.296 (90 laps)

——————————————————————

4. David Coulthard (Red Bull) 01:15.767 (42 laps)

5. Adrian Sutil (Force India) 01:15.945 (97 laps)

6. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) 01:15.955 (62 laps)

7. Timo Glock (Toyota) 01:15.995 (114 laps)

8. Fernando Alonso (Renault) 01:16.141 (106 laps)

9. Rubens Barrichello (Honda) 01:16.144 (90 laps)

10. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 01:16.217 (70 laps)
11. Nick Heidfeld (BMW) 01:16.235 (115 laps)
12. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) 01:16.550 (36 laps)

Amazing to see what small margins separate the cars - every team is so competitive, although we’re not sure why Nick Heidfeld was down in 11th, especially after 115 laps. Good times from DC and Sutil.