F1: Hamilton Upbeat After Topping Brazil Times

Formula 1

F1: Hamilton Upbeat After Topping Brazil Times

Lewis Hamilton's final Friday with McLaren was nearly perfect...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 23, 2012 Sao Paulo (BRA)

Lewis Hamilton set the Friday pace in Brazil. (Image: SPEED)

Lewis Hamilton was in an upbeat mood after practice in Brazil, having topped both the Friday morning and afternoon sessions.

Hamilton says he was encouraged by the pace of the McLaren on a day when the high temperatures made it difficult for everyone.

“It’s so hot here and I think the track temperature went up 10C or something like that,” said Hamilton. “You’re just sliding around, it’s almost like the tires are melting as you’re going around, it’s just so hot. Our runs were still pretty good, though. The laps are so fast. It’s obviously 1m14s, when I’d done my long run I felt I’d only done 10 laps maybe, but I’d actually done 15 laps, so it’s not so bad.

“It depends on what fuel loads people were on, but we’re definitely strong, just as we were in the last three or four races. But here’s it’s so tough on the tires, I hope that we can continue to compete with them tomorrow.

“The single-lap pace was good. I struggled a little bit on the prime, but on the option was able to get a very good lap out. At the time it was eight-tenths faster than anyone, although they closed the gap towards the end. Sebastian (Vettel) had several attempts, and he got close, but it didn’t look like he could match the time, so that’s a positive for us.

“We are definitely there or thereabouts this weekend. The long runs are the hardest part, looking after the tires. Red Bull have generally been very good at that. We seem to be a little bit quicker than them on the long run, at least we’re quicker than (Mark) Webber.”

Hamilton said he was savoring his final weekend with McLaren: “Yeah, every moment. I just took some pictures of my engineers, I’ll take some pictures of my mechanics later. This was one of the best Fridays for a long, long time, so it’s a perfect Friday to have.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.