Hamilton says McLaren 'blindingly quick'

The Briton finished second behind championship rival Felipe Massa in the morning session, but dropped down to ninth place in the afternoon, when the McLaren driver focused on race pace.

Hamilton said his car very strong during the morning runs and was positive ahead of tomorrow's qualifying.

"Our car was blindingly quick this morning despite the cold weather, which made the track feel quite slippery," said Hamilton, who need to finish in fifth place on Sunday to secure the title.

"This afternoon we focused on our race pace - but we were interrupted by the threat of rain and the changeable wind direction.

"I flat-spotted my tyres on a couple of runs, but I'm positive that the changes we've made will put us in a good position for tomorrow," added Hamilton.

Teammate Heikki Kovalainen completed a low-key second session for McLaren, the Finn winding up 15th.

"A decent Friday practice session and we now have a good understanding of tyre performance following our comparison work and evaluation," he said.

"We were fine-tuning the balance of the car all the time and the outcome makes me happy, although this isn't reflected in the fastest lap times. So we've found a good baseline to work on for the rest of the weekend."