Hamilton delighted with early progress

The Briton, who finished second on his debut on the street track in 2007, dominated much of the second 90 minutes and said afterwards that he was delighted with the performance of his McLaren-Mercedes.

"I simply love Monaco and enjoy every single moment I get to spend on the track," he said. "The car felt great almost immediately and I was able to show a good pace from the very beginning.

"As the circuit evolved throughout both practice sessions we made some good progress with both the set-up and tyre evaluation. I spent the first session on the same set of tyres.

"There is a long way to go, but I enjoy this so much and we will work hard to continue making progress."

Heikki Kovalainen also showed strong pace with the third fastest time in the morning session, and fifth in the afternoon. And while he couldn't match the speed of his teammate, the Finn is confident there is more to come from him on Saturday.

"Towards the end of the second session when I put on a new set of tyres we had made some set-up changes which were not as positive as we thought they would be," he said. "In addition, I wasn't pleased with my lap, so I am confident that we will continue to improve in Saturday's practice session.

"It's always great to drive around this track, and it's almost impossible to describe what it feels like. I can't wait for the rest of the Monaco Grand Prix."