• German Grand Prix - FP2

Hamilton unsure of size of improvements

Lewis Hamilton was second quickest in the dry morning session © Sutton Images

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• Report:
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• Race:
• German Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

Lewis Hamilton said the updated McLaren was "definitely a step forward" but that a lack of dry running prevented him from knowing how significant the improvement is.

McLaren ran a number of updates with the most noticeable being aerodynamic changes to the sidepods of the MP4-27. In a dry first session, Hamilton was second quickest behind his team-mate Jenson Button, but with rain falling throughout FP2 he said that the team had been limited in what it was able to do to analyse the effectiveness of the new parts.

"We didn't really get much of a feeling for it today, we only had a couple of laps in the dry," Hamilton said. "We didn't get to back-to-back them so we didn't start with the car from the last race and then put the new stuff on. But the car has felt again - like in the last race - pretty good. It's felt reasonably good all day today. I think a really good job from the guys. We won't really know until maybe tomorrow, if it's wet then it might not be even until the race. But it's definitely a step forward, how much it is I can't really tell you."

Looking ahead to Saturday, Hamilton said McLaren may be able to make more progress if it stays dry but that he expects a similar scenario to Silverstone.

"It just depends what the weather's going to do. I believe it's going to rain tomorrow and if it does then it will just make it very tough again as it was at the last race in qualifying, trying to just maximise and get out at the right time to try and get the lap in but we seem there or thereabouts so I'm not particularly worried."

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