Hamilton happy after solid start

LEWIS HAMILTON declared himself satisfied with his start to the British Grand Prix weekend after finishing inside the top three in both of yesterday’s practice sessions at Silverstone.

The McLaren driver is looking to end a run of two races without scoring points but was outpaced by teammate Heikki Kovalainen in both of the 90-minute sessions, the Finn fastest in the afternoon having been second behind Ferrari’s Felipe Massa this morning.

But on a day when it was confirmed Silverstone is to lose the British Grand Prix to Donington Park from 2010, Hamilton insisted he was happy with his progress.

“Although we only tested here last week, the track felt quite different today,” said Hamilton.

“The car’s balance felt good despite my having a grassy moment. In the afternoon, the car felt reasonably consistent, and I feel we’ve a good benchmark for the weekend.”

Hamilton’s failure to rack up points in both Canada and France has been typical of a topsy-turvy season that has seen the 23-year-old provide flashes of brilliance with his wins in Australia and Monaco, but commit errors that were simply not a feature of his rookie year.

Hamilton finds himself 10 points behind championship leader Massa at the season’s midway point but he remains bullish over his prospects for the remainder of the campaign.

“We’re working as hard as we can,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re stronger this year than we were last year — we just haven’t been as consistent.

“We come here with a strong feeling in the team and a strong package.”

Hamilton’s teammate, meanwhile, kept a lid on his expectations for the weekend despite his solid showing yesterday.

Kovalainen was the only driver to duck under the one minute 20 second barrier this afternoon with a lap of 1min 19.989secs, although it was significantly slower than the overall fastest time (1:19.575) set by Massa in the morning session on lighter fuel loads.

“We shouldn’t get carried away with being fastest on Friday afternoon, but we’ve a good basis for Sunday,” said the Finn.

Over at Ferrari, Massa enjoyed a consistent advantage over world champion teammate Kimi Raikkonen, despite suffering a huge accident in the morning session.

The Brazilian lost control of his car at the end of the 180mph Hangar Straight, spinning on oil dropped when the engine failed in Fernando Alonso’s Renault just minutes earlier.

The Ferrari scrubbed off little speed as it pirouetted off the track and slammed backwards into a tyre barrier, destroying the rear end of the car.

Massa extracted himself unaided but there was an 18-minute red-flag delay.

“I didn’t see any (oil) flags and I had approached the corner in the usual way and then I totally lost control of the car under braking,” said Massa. “I tried to slow down but the impact was still pretty violent.

“The car was completely destroyed, but fortunately the chassis was all right.” Massa was taken to the medical centre for checks but was discharged with a clean bill of health.

Elsewhere, it was a good day for Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard, who will contest his 14th and final British Grand Prix this weekend as he retires at the end of the season.

The Scot improved from ninth to fourth in the second session, two places behind in-form teammate Mark Webber.