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SHANGHAI–McLaren's Lewis Hamilton recorded the fastest time in both of today's practice sessions for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, showing the kind of speed that could clinch him the Formula One title on Sunday (8 a.m., TSN).
Hamilton, who leads the drivers championship by five points with two races remaining, set a best time of one minute 35.630 seconds in morning practice at Shanghai International Circuit. He followed that with a time of 1:35.750 to top the timesheets in the second session.
"No matter what we changed on the car, it just kept getting better and better and the grip and balance kept improving," Hamilton said. "This is the best possible way to kick off any weekend and has given me extra confidence for the next few days."
Hamilton can clinch the title in China by finishing on the podium and scoring at least six more points in the race than Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Otherwise, the title will be decided in the final race of the season in Brazil.
Massa had the second best time of the day in the morning session, 0.390 seconds off the pace. He was sixth in the afternoon session.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen were third and fourth quickest in the morning session. Fernando Alonso, the winner of the past two grand prix events, was second behind Hamilton in the afternoon, with his Renault teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. third.
BMW's Robert Kubica, who is 12 points behind Hamilton in the standings and retains slim title hopes, was fifth quickest in the morning session but only 12th in the afternoon.
Meantime, several F1 drivers have called for an ex-F1 driver to be appointed to replace the panel of stewards in the wake of contentious decisions at last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
World champions Raikkonen and Alonso said this week that having an official with F1 racing experience making rulings on race incidents was a better option than the existing system.
"For sure that would help, it would keep people more happy if every time we have the same decision," Raikkonen said. "To have an old driver would get more respect than people who don't drive an F1."
Added Alonso: "Probably there are too many penalties. Sometimes the races are decided by the stewards. . . For a driver, it would really help to have consistency in penalties. We need more consistency, even if they are very harsh."
The comments came after championship leader Hamilton of McLaren was given a pit drive-through penalty in Japan for late braking in the first corner that forced Raikkonen off the track.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was also given a drive-through penalty for colliding with Hamilton, while Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais was penalized 25 seconds and consequently a points finish for colliding with Massa.
The Bourdais decision particularly attracted criticism.
