Hamilton stays on top at Hockenheim

The McLaren driver, quickest on Tuesday and running without the shark fin engine cover his team introduced yesterday, posted a best time of 1:14.872, over six tenths of a second faster than on the opening day.

Hamilton, who briefly tested a new front wing in the morning, finished nearly four tenths ahead of second-placed Nico Rosberg, the busiest man on track with his Williams, the German covering 117 laps.

Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest for Ferrari, and the Finn was left upbeat about his chances for the race next week.

"I am reasonably satisfied with the way things went during these two days of testing," said Raikkonen. "We mainly tried to find settings for the car which will allow us to be in good shape for the Grand Prix.

"I think we will also be competitive on this track, as indeed we have been for the year so far. The speed isn't lacking, but sometimes, we haven't managed to put together all the elements and have not succeeded in exploiting all the potential at our disposal."

David Coulthard was fourth fastest, the Red Bull driver in action during the morning session, with teammate Mark Webber taking over in the afternoon.

Adrian Sutil completed a good day for the Force India team by setting the fifth quickest time, although the German caused the first of three red flags during the session when he stopped at 10:30.

The other two red flags were caused by Honda's Rubens Barrichello stopping at 17:00 and Fernando Alonso following suit with his Renault 45 minutes later.

The session was extended by 10 minutes to allow drivers to practice starts in preparation for the German Grand Prix next week.

A brief shower in the morning meant drivers stayed in the garage for around 15 minutes, but conditions improved from that moment and it stayed sunny all afternoon.

The other remarkable incident of the day took place when a photographer without an official tabbard, crossed the circuit to take pictures from an unauthorised spot.

As a consequence of this incident, all the photographers present were asked to return their tabbards and stop taking pictures while they were given a proper briefing by the circuit's authorities.

All photographers with an official FIA pass were then given new tabbards and continued with their work. The photographer in question is believed to have had his credentials put under review subject to future accreditation.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:14.872  101
 2.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:15.257  117
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:15.296   90
 4.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:15.767   42
 5.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:15.945   97
 6.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:15.955   62
 7.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:15.995  114
 8.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:16.141  106
 9.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:16.144   90
10.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:16.217   70
11.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (B)  1:16.235  115
12.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:16.550   36

All Timing Unofficial