The British boys know they will have the full support of a 120,000-strong Silverstone crowd, and are ready to repay those fans.

Hamilton said: “I think it’s going to be an interesting weekend.

“It’s an exciting one for me and Jenson because we know we have so much support here, not only here at the circuit, but also watching throughout the country, and we just want to make the country proud.

“I think it’s going to be one of the most exciting British Grands Prix for quite some time, at least I hope so, and I hope Jenson and I are at the forefront of that.

“I know the fans would love a one-two, so we will do our best this weekend because it’s they who make it, and we want to give as much back as we can.”

Hamilton and the rest of the F1 field will sample the reconfigured Northamptonshire track for the first time this weekend following a £5million revamp.

After simulator tests and track walks, for the moment the drivers are split on whether the new Arena section will aid overtaking.

Hamilton, though, is simply glad to be back racing at Silverstone after fears this time last year it had staged its last race given Donington Park was poised to play host.

“We see this as the home of Formula One, of motor sport because Great Britain has done so much for the sport and we have so many committed fans,” added Hamilton.

“It wouldn’t be Formula One if we didn’t have a grand prix here, so I’m glad we do have it, happy too because the support we get here is unlike anywhere else.

“This is a place where all my fellow countryman are in the stands, and the support we have is unbelievable.

“So I really hope we can put on a good show for them because they are really behind us, no matter what.”

As in Monaco, Hamilton will again be sporting a new helmet design, this time in honour of his roots given his Grenadan background.

“I want to do something special every year at my two favourite grands prix which are Silverstone and Monaco,” said Hamilton.

“I did something a little bit different for Monaco, and last year here I had a slightly different helmet with the British flag on it.

“This year I have all my family coming, who are from Grenada, so I wanted to make sure I represented both countries so I have got the Grenadan flag and British flag on top of the helmet, with stars down the side.

“I thought it would be quite cool as my family roots are from the West Indies. I thought it would be quite unique to do it.

“In the future these helmets will hopefully be quite valuable and who knows, maybe I will put them up for charity, raise some money that way.”

Webber set the fastest lap of the day in the afternoon session, completing the modified circuit in 1 minute, 31.234 seconds, while Vettel set the pace in the morning session by clocking 1:32.280

Following his spectacular accident in the European Grand Prix two weeks ago, Webber is using a chassis formerly used by Vettel.

Vettel won the Valencia race to go 12 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton and six behind world champion Jenson Button.

The priority for the McLaren team of Hamilton and Button on Friday had been to analyze the performance of its new exhaust blown diffuser, which aids downforce and increases grip — a device which has worked so well for Red Bull.

The parts arrived at McLaren’s Silverstone garage only in the early hours of the morning — and are yet to deliver.

“It’s a new package and we’ve got to do a lot of learning,” McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said. “I think we got a lot of useful information, now we have to use that information in a way to make the car quicker tomorrow.”

The fastest time the world champion Button posted was 1:33.2 in the morning 90-minute session — more than a second behind Vettel.

Hamilton was only a third of a second off the pace with the second fastest morning time, but the 2008 world champion was more than 1.5 seconds behind Webber later in the day.

“I was actually surprised about the pace of the car this morning,” Hamilton said. “The changes that we made to the car, setup wise, actually didn’t make it better. Sometimes you find that’s the case. So what we will do is go back to the setup we had earlier on.”

The Spaniard believes he could have won last time out in Canada even without the new system, which guides hot air from the exhausts in such a way as to enhance airflow over the diffuser and thus increase downforce.

“I think we are optimistic. We are happy with the job we have done in these last couple of weeks, so we arrive in Valencia with a good package in our car.

“But we remain very calm about our expectation as other teams were not watching television in these last two weeks, so I think everybody will bring updates here. Hopefully ours is a little bit better than others.”

Cleverly, Ferrari gave him a brief shakedown run in the revised car at their private Fiorano test track last week, as part of a filming project. It did not count as a test because that would have contravened in-season rules banning such things.

“The feeling was very good,” Alonso said, tongue-in-cheek. “I was running behind a car with cameras, so it was very good at 60 kmh, very stable!

“We expect a step up with the car, a little bit quicker but, as I said before, I think all the other teams will bring some new parts here, so I think the most important thing is to confirm that we are competitive here, as we did in Canada, and we need to keep improving the car. Silverstone, Hockenheim, Budapest … it’s not one evolution in the car in the year and you stop.

“This is a job that we need to keep doing until Abu Dhabi, so there is a long way to go but we are optimistic.”

After Nico Rosberg had set the pace in the morning for Mercedes – from the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button – the pendulum swung in the favour of Ferrari and Red Bull in the afternoon, as the pace, but not necessarily the level of grip, picked up in the afternoon.

On the softer-compound prime Bridgestone tyres it was Ferrari, Red Bull, Red Bull, Mercedes (Rosberg), McLaren (Hamilton)and Renault (Robert Kubica).

But, just as they had in Canada a fortnight ago, all of the drivers had struggled initially with the softer-compound option tyre as they slipped and slithered their way around the still-green track in the morning.

Things were better in the afternoon, however, and the weather is more settled here than it was in Montreal. With support events for GP2, GP3 and Formula BMW, grip can be expected to get better still as the track rubbers in.

As Alonso’s optimism seemed justified and he pushed ahead, Hamilton was philosophical.

“The first session looked quite good for us. But it was always going to be interesting to see how quickly the blown-diffuser cars could get up to speed and they looked very competitive this afternoon, particularly over a single lap. And the grip they appear to have through the high-speed stuff could make them difficult for us to touch.”

McLaren will have their blown diffuser ready for Silverstone in two weeks’ time, when the car that has won the last two races will receive another serious update.

Meanwhile, Hamilton and Button may have to tread water here. Hamilton’s afternoon was interrupted by a near-miss with Michael Schumacher.

“It’s always difficult to find a gap out there,” Hamilton said. “I saw Michael ahead of me and I thought he was on a quick lap – then, all of a sudden, he slowed down to create a gap from the guy in front.

“Around here, it’s all about managing the gap between the guy in front and the guy behind. Fortunately, I missed him, so no hard feelings – and I hear he apologised, so it’s all good. There is no problem.”

Alonso had a big smile when he talked of his sessions. “Here, as in Montreal, our car seems to work well, even if it’s difficult to make a direct comparison, given that the track surface is very different and that one needs a bit more aerodynamic downforce.

“Together with Felipe [Massa], we worked on the development of new technical solutions, but it is hard to say how much we have improved compared to the others. The F10 has turned out to be easy to drive and competitive in every situation, both with low and high fuel loads, but it is too early to say where we are.

“This morning, the McLarens were very quick, the Red Bulls are always on front-running pace and even Mercedes and Renault are very close. However, our only aim is to be ahead of everyone, otherwise we wouldn’t be Ferrari.

“I think it will be interesting to see this race, how it goes. There have been some circuits better, some circuits with problems, some up and down for the team performance in the last couple of races, so hopefully we can continue the performance we saw in Montreal. The line that put us in a competitive level, fighting with McLaren and Red Bull.

“In Turkey we were not quick enough, so we want just to try to confirm the feeling of Canada and be competitive here again and hopefully finish on the podium.”

Interestingly, he was much more confident ahead of Spain’s World Cup meeting with Chile last night. “Easy, easy, easy,” he laughed. “We will win. That’s for sure.”

Practice Times

European Grand Prix, Valencia, Spain: Second practice: 1 F Alonso (Sp) Ferrari 1min 39.283sec; 2 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:39.339; 3 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:39.427; 4 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:39.650; 5 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:39.749; 6 R Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:39.880; 7 F Massa (Br) Ferrari 1:39.947; 8 A Sutil (Ger) Force India 1: 40.020; 9 J Button (GB) McLaren 1:40.029; 10 R Barrichello (Br) Williams 1:40.174; 11 M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1:40.287; 12 V Liuzzi (It) Force India 1:40.387; 13 V Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:40.618; 14 K Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber 1:40.906; 15 P de la Rosa (Sp) BMW Sauber 1:40.945; 16 S Buemi (Swit) Toro Rosso 1:41.115; 17 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:41.371; 18 J Alguersuari (Sp) Toro Rosso 1:41.457; 19 H Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus 1:42.467; 20 J Trulli (It) Lotus 1:42.993; 21 P di Resta (GB) Force India 1:43.437; 22 T Glock (Ger) Virgin 1:43.811; 23 L di Grassi (Br) Virgin 1:43.854; 24 B Senna (Br) HRT 1:44.095; 25 K Chandhok (India) HRT 1:44.566; 26 C Klien (Aut) HRT 1:47.343.