Less than 48-hours after Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the ten F1 teams were back in action at Hockenheim, in remarkably similar weather conditions. While Sunday's race was affected by typical British summer weather, which saw strong winds and a number of short but heavy downpours, the first day of running at Hockenheim was similarly affected, though the wind was not as strong.

Silverstone winner Hamilton proved that Sunday's win was no fluke - that that such an idea has been suggested - completing 75 laps on his way to posting the fastest time of the day. On the Englishman's agenda today was the evaluation of new aero components including the first run of a top body dorsal fin which covered the engine. The team also focussed on suspension development and set-up work ahead of next weekend's race here.

Following its disappointing performance in Britain, Kimi Raikkonen was on track for Ferrari. The reigning World Champion's programme centred on set-up work in preparation for next week and included the evaluation of new aerodynamic and mechanical components.

Having missed out on a points finish at the weekend, Nico Rosberg was Williams representative today as the Grove outfit concentrated on set-up work in preparation for next weekend.

"The rain interrupted our progress a few times today," said Dickie Stanford, "but we still managed to record 87 laps in the dry. Tomorrow, we will finish our programme with Nico before Kazuki arrives for day three on Thursday."

Adrian Sutil, on duty for Force India in preparation for his home race, was fourth quickest, albeit over a second off Hamilton's pace. Work focussed on tuning the VJM01 for the challenges of the 4.574km track, with its long straights, tight chicanes and stadium complex. The team also continued to accumulate further data on the new aero and mechanical package raced for the first time at Silverstone.

Despite the weather conditions, the team completed its full programme with no major mechanical problems. Sutil will continue for the second day of the test tomorrow.

"It was quite a good day," said Sutil, "we could do lots of laps without any real problems. It was disturbed by the rain quite a bit but at least we did as much dry running as we could have done. We worked on set-up in the morning and I was quite happy with the car. In the afternoon it was more difficult, with the rain and then the wind picked up quite a lot and it was very difficult with the balance, but overall I am quite confident and feel very good. I like the circuit here - the last time I drove it was in 2005 in a Formula 3 car so I was really looking forward to the first go today with the F1 car. It's just amazing how quick it is. I think tomorrow we will have better weather, so conditions should be more consistent. We have a lot to test with some new parts, so all together working to improve the car."

"Today's programme very much followed on from the progress we made at the Silverstone test and British Grand Prix, "with the new aero and mechanical package," added Dominic Harlow, the team's chief race and test engineer. "In the morning, we used last weekend's set-up as a baseline and then worked on tuning it for the various challenges of the Hockenheimring. In the afternoon we worked through some reliability items and brake cooling and set-up and made some good, solid progress. Although the rain just before and after lunch and the high winds did slightly disrupt the programme and made it difficult to draw some conclusions, with no major mechanical problems over the day, we were able to complete 97 laps to set a strong basis for tomorrow where we will test some further aero parts."