Lewis Hamilton acclaims McLaren progress

Two cars in the front four on the Istanbul grid represents a serious improvement for the British motor-racing team
It was more in hope than expectation that McLaren claimed to be getting closer to Red Bull this weekend, but two cars in the top four - including Lewis Hamilton on the front row - represented a serious step forward.
While Mark Webber achieved the seventh successive pole position for Red Bull this season, Hamilton made the front row for the first time, recording a time of 1:26.433, 0.327sec ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull.
“I was very, very happy with that lap I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Hamilton said. “These guys (Red Bull) have been untouchable in terms of pure pace, but this puts us in a strong position.”
McLaren’s improvements included a new rear wing, which had been brought forward after being expected to be ready for the Candian Grand Prix in a fortnight.
Jenson Button took fourth position, his final flying lap scuppered when he was forced to slow after Michael Schumacher crashed. But he fears the set-up of the car may cause problems on the bumpy track with a full load of fuel.
“Being the last car is sometimes a good thing but Michael went off in front me, I saw the yellow flag and decided to come in,” said Button, who is in fourth place in the driver standings. We are a lot closer to Red Bull than I expected. I was hitting the ground a lot through turn eight and I think we’ve run the car too low. With a lot of fuel on board for tomorrow, it will be tough on turn eight.”