Turkish GP: McLaren Friday practice notes

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso finished Friday's second free practice for the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul first and sixth fastest respectively. Lewis completed 28 laps and set a time of 1min28.469, whilst ...

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso finished Friday's second free practice for the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul first and sixth fastest respectively. Lewis completed 28 laps and set a time of 1min28.469, whilst Fernando did 24 laps and was on 1min28.947.

In the morning session, Fernando was third fastest with 1min29.22 (20 laps) followed by Lewis in fourth place with 1min29.261 (10 laps), whose session was interrupted when a small oil leak in the gearbox caused his clutch to start slipping.

Fernando Alonso:

"Track conditions were a bit of a problem today. It was slippery this morning when we first went out, but we made some adjustments and that seemed to make a difference. Then this afternoon it was very windy, and we started to suffer a little from understeer, which we will work on overnight. We are definitely among the strongest here, but as expected it will be a tough fight with Kimi and Felipe."

Lewis Hamilton:

"I am happy with the performance so far, especially as the conditions today were not ideal. It is a shame that both sessions were interrupted, however the work we did was productive and we made some good progress."

Ron Dennis:

"The high winds and slippery track conditions added an extra challenge to both of today's practice sessions. Nevertheless we were able to get a clear understanding of our performance level and are looking relatively strong for the rest of the weekend."

Norbert Haug:

"The track conditions were rather tricky with winds and some dust on the circuit today. Still, our times on new and used tyres looked quite okay."

Chassis allocation
Fernando Alonso: MP4-22 06
Lewis Hamilton: MP4-22 01
T-car: MP4-22 03