Kovalainen encouraged by strong start

The Finn was second quickest in the day's first session before topping this afternoon's practice by over half a second as the only driver to break the 1:20 barrier after lunch.

He doesn't want to read too much into practice times, but was encouraged by the performance of his McLaren and believes the team have laid down a good base ahead of Sunday's race.

"We seemed to find a nice balance almost immediately and waited for the track to come to us throughout both sessions," he said. "The trick here is to balance the set-up between the high and slow-speed corners and I feel we're getting closer to achieving that.

"We shouldn't get carried away with being fastest on Friday afternoon, but we've got a good basis for Sunday."

Kovalainen held a comfortable margin at the top of the time sheet for most of the session, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton was third quickest in each 90-minute session.