Dastardly Hamilton set to make it a wacky race by throwing an anvil at his Hockenheim rivals

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Weight off his shoulders: Lewis Hamilton

He was quickest in a McLaren sporting a new aerodynamic engine cover, which had the distinctive side profile of a giant anvil.

A best time of 1min 15.483sec was more than 0.3sec faster than Raikkonen, with Nico Rosberg half a second adrift in third place in his Williams.

Anvil user: Wacky Races cheat Dick Dastardly

'We’re going to continue to improve the car,' said McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh. 'No one can say how competitive we’ll be in the race but I’ll be disappointed if we’re not.

'They (Ferrari) are going to be back and fighting...we'll be bolting bits on our car to make it better and so will they. They've got two very quick and committed drivers so we are in for real tough competition.'

With strong winds and intermittent showers throughout the day making life difficult for drivers and engineers, world champion Raikkonen was second quickest in 1:15.803, according to unofficial times issued by the teams.

Germany's Nico Rosberg, without a point in his last four races, was third fastest ahead of Force India compatriot Adrian Sutil.

Hockenheim returns to the Formula One calendar this season after a year's absence following the decision to alternate hosting of the German Grand Prix with the Nuerburgring.