Hamilton sets the pace at Silverstone

The McLaren driver, taking over from teammate Heikki Kovalainen, set the quickest time of the week with a best lap of 1:19.170, outpacing Toyota's Timo Glock by over six tenths of a second.

Glock had a positive day of work despite being involved in an accident with David Coulthard, the duo making contact at the Hangar straight.

"It was a misunderstanding - when I turned in at the end of the Hangar Straight David was there," explained Glock.

"I just didn't see him so I apologise for that. The mechanics did a really good job to get the car back into shape and they worked hard all day because we had a lot to do.

"We've made a good step in the last couple of weeks and the last two results have given the team a boost. Now we have to keep up the form at Silverstone next week."

The strong wind again caused problems for the teams, although there was no rain despite a cloudy sky for most of the day.

Only Hamilton and Glock lapped the British track in less than 80 seconds today, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen third fastest with a time of 1:20.321.

Renault's Fernando Alonso took over from teammate Nelsinho Piquet to wrap up the French squad's preparations for the British Grand Prix, the Spaniard posting the fourth quickest time.

Alonso caused the first red flag of the day when his engine seemed to expire around 10am.

Nick Heidfeld completed the top five in his BMW Sauber, the German squad finishing the day 25 minutes early because they were already satisfied with their work.

Red Bull's Coulthard had a difficult day after his crash with Glock, the Scot also causing the last red flag of the day due to an apparent engine problem.

He finished at the bottom of the times after just 31 laps.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver       Team                     Time      Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:19.170   88
 2.  Glock        Toyota              (B)  1:19.815   79
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari             (B)  1:20.321   60
 4.  Alonso       Renault             (B)  1:20.862   78
 5.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber          (B)  1:21.011   93
 6.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.059   70
 7.  Sutil        Force India         (B)  1:21.331   71
 8.  Barrichello  Honda               (B)  1:21.344   94
 9.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.432   76
10.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.232   31

All Timing Unofficial