Hamilton surprise fastest in Germany

By Alan Baldwin

NUERBURGRING, Germany (Reuters) - World champion Lewis Hamilton returned to the scene of his worst Formula One crash on Friday to set the fastest time in German Grand Prix free practice.

The 24-year-old Briton, who crashed heavily at the Nuerburgring in his debut 2007 season, was surprisingly ahead of the championship pace-setters with a best lap of one minute 32.149 seconds in the afternoon.

The performance was a rare positive for the McLaren driver, who has struggled to score just nine points in eight races in an uncompetitive car and is 55 points adrift of championship-leading compatriot Jenson Button.

The last time he topped a practice session was in Bahrain on April 24 and McLaren have not finished in the points in their last four races.

"We've still got a long way to go but...these new upgrades are pushing us in the right direction," said Hamilton, whose car had a revised floor and aerodynamics for engine partners Mercedes' home race.

"It's a work in progress, but the guys back at the factory have done an incredible job to get these parts to the circuit. I've even heard of one guy working a 36-hour non-stop shift to build these parts, which is incredible."

"It's still early days, and we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, but I'm hopeful of being able to get into Q3 (the final phase of qualifying) tomorrow and look at scoring a couple of points on Sunday afternoon."

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