London - Lewis Hamilton recovered from an early setback to finish fifth fastest on the second day of in-season testing at Silverstone on Wednesday.
Hamilton, who won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone at the weekend, missed the majority of the morning's session after spinning his Mercedes on his sixth lap and causing the session to be red flagged.
The 2008 world champion came back to complete a total of 47 laps and he set the fifth fastest time of the day, clocking one minute 36.680 seconds.
That was more than a second slower than pace-setter Jules Bianchi in his Ferrari, who drove 89 laps and chalked up 1.35.262
on the 3.66-mile track - the quickest time of the session.
Hamilton was pleased with the performance of the car during testing and is looking forward to the next race, the German Grand Prix on July 20.
“It wasn't an easy day today; we had great weather but unfortunately had some problems at the start of the day which meant we lost some track time,” he said.
“The guys did a fantastic job to get the car ready again and we were able to put together a few successful runs.
“At the end of the day, we were going to do more important runs but the red flag came out.
“It could have been a lot worse as it could have been raining or we could have even done no laps, but some of the things we've tried in the car feel really positive.
“I'm really pumped now for the next race in Germany. It's a constant challenge for the team to try to stay ahead and I hope we can continue to do that there.”
Frenchman Bianchi, who usually drives for Marussia, was standing in for Kimi Raikkonen, who is sitting out testing this week following his crash on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Bianchi beat Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat, who was second fastest in a time of 1.35.544, and McLaren's Kevin Magnussen, who came third in 1.35.593.
TIMES:
1. Jules Bianchi (FRA) Ferrari 1:35.262 (89 laps)
2. Daniil Kvyat (RUS) Toro Rosso-Renault 1:35.544 (56)
3. Kevin Magnussen (DEN) McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.593 (91)
4. Giedo van der Garde (NED) Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.327 (84)
5. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes 1:36.680 (47)
6. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams-Mercedes 1:37.193
7. Max Chilton (GBR) Marussia-Ferrari 1:37.359 (77)
8. Daniel Juncadella (ESP) Force India-Mercedes 1:37.449 (52)
9. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull-Renault 1:39.410 (76)
10. Charles Pic (FRA) Lotus-Renault 1:41.906 (38)
11. Julian Leal (COL) Caterham-Renault 1:42.635 (51)
Sapa-AFP