Hamilton: We're in good shape

The world champion spun and grazed the nose of his car against a barrier, and although he only broke a nose hanger for the front wing, a lack of spares precluded him from doing any more running.

"I touched the wall, but didn't even really feel the impact," he said. "I only grazed the front wing - but, unfortunately, it couldn't be repaired as we didn't have a spare one.

"Hopefully, we can get a new one for tomorrow, or else we'll have to make some changes - we don't have lots of these wings available."

The changes the team had made to the car between the two sessions boosted Hamilton's confidence ahead of the weekend however.

"I didn't feel too happy with the car this morning, but the changes we made between the sessions were very positive.

"On my last lap, I was six tenths up and it was already looking quite good, so I feel positive for Saturday. It's a shame we missed out on so much track-time, but I still think we'll be okay tomorrow - that time can always be regained."

Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen had no incidents during his first day, but did have to run without his KERS system which cost his time on and off the track according to Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug.

The Finn remained upbeat over his chances for the weekend regardless.

"We ran exactly the programme that we'd planned and the car feels pretty good," he said. "For me, this has been a much better start to my weekend than in Hungary and I feel like we're in good shape.

"The pace at the front is very close, but I think we're in the hunt. We now go into tomorrow fully focused on getting a good result."