Grand Prix of Canada, Practise Sessions

Nico Rosberg emerged fastest for Williams in the final practice
session for the Canadian Grand Prix, as late incidents frustrated the
teams’ attempts to complete flying laps on the softer compound tyres.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen took second behind Rosberg, with Lewis
Hamilton third for McLaren and Raikkonen’s teammate Felipe Massa in
fourth.

After an uneventful first 45 minutes, the session was halted with 14
minutes to go when Sebastian Vettel crashed his Toro Rosso heavily at
the exit of Turn 9.

The young German got out of the car unaided, but his incident left a
significant amount of debris for the marshals to clear up, and only six
minutes remained on the clock when the action resumed.

That led to a frantic dash on the super-soft tyres, as the entire
field (bar Vettel) took to the track to attempt qualifying simulations
as soon as the green light came on at the pit exit.

But they were interrupted again when Vettel’s teammate Sebastien
Bourdais also crashed – damaging his Toro Rosso’s suspension on the
Turn 5 wall and parking on the grass next to the circuit.

Although there was no need for another stoppage, the yellow flags
for Bourdais’ stranded machine prevented any late improvements.

That meant Rosberg remained on top, having been quickest throughout
the second half of the session. He twice swapped the top spot with
Raikkonen as both completed their first runs after 20 minutes, before
settling at the head of the timing screens with a 1:16.555 lap – 0.034
seconds faster than Raikkonen’s best.

Hamilton was 0.170 seconds slower than Rosberg in third, ahead of Massa.

Kazuki Nakajima jumped up to fifth in the second Williams just
before the yellows for Bourdais’ crash emerged, with Toyota’s Jarno
Trulli also improving at the same time to earn sixth.

Heikki Kovalainen was only seventh for McLaren, while Renault’s
Nelson Piquet was an encouraging eighth despite a quick spin at Turn 8
mid-way through the session and then another rotation at the final
chicane on his last lap. He narrowly missed the wall and escaped damage.

Behind ninth-placed Mark Webber (Red Bull), Vettel was able to hang on to 10th place despite his accident.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:16.555           16
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:16.589 + 0.034   22
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:16.725 + 0.170   17
 4.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:16.787 + 0.232   19
 5.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:16.898 + 0.343   16
 6.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:16.946 + 0.391   20
 7.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:16.952 + 0.397   16
 8.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:17.060 + 0.505   19
 9.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:17.062 + 0.507   16
10.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:17.085 + 0.530   16
11.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:17.109 + 0.554   17
12.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:17.282 + 0.727   17
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:17.322 + 0.767   20
14.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:17.557 + 1.002   19
15.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:17.557 + 1.002   20
16.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:17.608 + 1.053   24
17.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:17.683 + 1.128   16
18.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:17.766 + 1.211   17
19.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:18.178 + 1.623   19
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:18.424 + 1.869   21

Kimi is doing much better today and he’s quicker than Lewis Hamilton which is encouraging! Rosberg obviously was obviously on a lighter fuel run but he has been impressive nonetheless. So, what can we expect in a few hours time? The Iceman on the front row isn’t hard to imagine, he’s nearly there and he’s going to give it his all to try and win the Canadian GP, starting with a strong qualifying position. Keep flying Kimi! ~

| Free Practise 2 – Hamilton Quickest Ahead of Kubica, Raikko

Lewis Hamilton left it until the last ten minutes of Friday’s free practice to lay down his marker for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The McLaren man, returning to the scene of his maiden Grand Prix victory, put in a lap of 1:15.766 that was within an ace of his 2007 pole lap.

Then, with the matter already seemingly beyond debate, the Briton produced a spectacular final lap to lower his time to 1:15.752, getting airborne as he thumped the kerbs at the final chicane.

Until then it looked as if Robert Kubica would take the honours after hustling BMW to the top of the times.

The BMW driver set a 1:16.023 with just under half an hour of the session left, despite brushing the wall on the exit of Turn Four.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, but twice he looked as though he could have gone quicker had he not been forced to back off in the middle sector.

The first time it happened while track officials cleared away Timo Glock’s Toyota – the German having clouted the same wall slightly harder than Kubica – and the second time when David Coulthard spun at Turn Six.

McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen also might have gone quicker as well but for a small error, but still managed the fourth fastest time.

Felipe Massa was fifth quickest, but missed the last 15 minutes of the session when his Ferrari appeared to suffer a technical failure on the exit of the hairpin.

Kubica’s teammate Nick Heidfeld was fast early in the 90 minutes, but dropped back as the session continued.

Mark Webber was seventh, his attempt to improve further ruined by a spin, while Nico Rosberg put in a late effort to push the impressive Sebastian Vettel back to ninth. Jarno Trulli completed the top ten.

Both Renaults were in the wars. Fernando Alonso spun halfway through the session at Turn Two and couldn’t get his car restarted. Meanwhilem Nelson Piquet’s woes continued as he appeared to suffer a brake failure at the hairpin. Then, while bringing his car back to the pits, he ground to a halt at the pit entrance with his wheels on fire.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:15.752            42
 2.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:16.023  + 0.271   41
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:16.093  + 0.341   39
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:16.331  + 0.579   36
 5.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:16.413  + 0.661   27
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:16.589  + 0.837   43
 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:16.604  + 0.852   39
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:16.767  + 1.015   37
 9.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:17.019  + 1.267   43
10.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:17.068  + 1.316   46
11.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:17.242  + 1.490   37
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:17.334  + 1.582   31
13.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:17.462  + 1.710   39
14.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:17.508  + 1.756   39
15.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:17.549  + 1.797   31
16.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:17.559  + 1.807   38
17.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:17.644  + 1.892   30
18.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:17.813  + 2.061   37
19.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:17.842  + 2.090   39
20.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:18.076  + 2.324   17

With a dry track, we can have a more realistic look at the times. McLaren and BMW have the edge over Ferrari it seems, but Kimi’s not looking too shabby either. Felipe has taken a setback with an engine problem after going quickest in the first session, and it took a while for the marshalls to remove the car from the track.

Kimi is looking more comfortable with the handling and braking than he did last year, comparing from onboard footage, so that’s encouraging! (Keep it up Kimi, just fly that little bit faster and you’ll have them). Vettel is doing a good job and Webber is making the most out of the sister Red Bull. I don’t know about you, but if this is how the grid will look for Sunday then I really hope it rains during qualifying. A mixed up grid would make it far more interesting! Whatever happens though, keep flying Kimi ~

| Friday Quotes – Ferrari, Kimi is ‘Satisfied’

Kimi Raikkonen – 3rd: "I am quite satisfied with this first day of testing. We were always quick. The car turned out to be well balanced right from the morning and I think we can aim for the top spots over the rest of the weekend. From what we have seen today, there is not much difference in the performance of the two types of Bridgestone tyre we have available to us, but the track conditions are bound to change over the next couple of days. At this track, it is very important to have the brakes sorted in the race and we also worked on this."

Felipe Massa – 5th: "My car seemed to suffer some sort of blackout: gradually all the systems shut down and I had to stop at the side of the track. Of course, that’s not good but it’s better to have a problem in free practice than in qualifying or, worse still, in the race!…

Luca Baldisserri: "A shame about the technical problem on Felipe’s car, the cause of which we still need to understand. It prevented him from completing all the work we had scheduled for these three hours of free practice. But in any case, we have enough information to be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and the race. It’s too early to say where we are in the pecking order, but we will definitely be competitive."

| Practise Videos –  FP1 Highlights, FP2 Long Onboard with Kimi, Interview

    http://www.viddler.com/simple/2080e0cb/     http://www.viddler.com/simple/e42db62b/     http://www.viddler.com/simple/7d0d0d74/

| Free Practise 1 – Massa Fastest in Damp First Session

Felipe Massa waited right to the end of a damp first practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix to go quickest in Montreal.

The Ferrari driver’s lap time of 1:17.553 was good enough to fend off several last-ditch attempts from rivals as the timesheet resembled a fruit machine in the final moments of the 90 minutes.

In the end, it was BMW’s Robert Kubica who got closest to the Brazilian’s time, eclipsing Heikki Kovalainen and Nick Heidfeld, both of whom had in turn usurped Kimi Raikkonen from second place moments before.

But it was a question of being out on track at the right time as Jenson Button discovered when he dropped from fourth to last in just eight minutes.

The track was declared wet at the start of the session and predictably, only the Force India drivers ventured out initially. Giancarlo Fisichella having the measure of team-mate Adrian Sutil when the track was at its most treacherous.

But at halfway, with a dry line emerging, the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock took control of the session. And they stayed in charge when drivers began switching to dry tyres just after the 60 minute mark.

After that, Glock, who stayed top for a considerable amount of time, was a sitting duck, as first Kimi Raikkonen, then Nico Rosberg dispensed lap times under the 1:20 mark.

From then times cascaded as the timesheets scrolled almost permanently.

In the end, the world champion dropped to fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who waited until the last seven minutes of the session before coming out to play.

Mark Webber set a time good enough for third when he was on track, but eventually dropped to seventh ahead of Red Bull team-mate David Coulthard. While Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.

Rosberg, having twice topped the order, ended the session 11th.

Unsurprisingly several drivers ran off the track, including Button, Trulli, Alonso, and Piquet, but no-one made contact with the barriers.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:17.553           14
 2.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:17.809 + 0.256   12
 3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.133 + 0.580   10
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:18.182 + 0.629   13
 5.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:18.292 + 0.739   12
 6.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.303 + 0.750    8
 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:18.712 + 1.159   11
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:18.809 + 1.256   12
 9.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:18.971 + 1.418   24
10.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:19.005 + 1.452   13
11.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:19.093 + 1.540   20
12.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:19.228 + 1.675   21
13.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:19.346 + 1.793   28
14.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:19.568 + 2.015   31
15.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.815 + 2.262   16
16.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.888 + 2.335   15
17.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:20.091 + 2.538   23
18.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:20.173 + 2.620   17
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:20.541 + 2.988   16
20.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:21.542 + 3.989   17

Okay so here we have begun Grand Prix du Canada, and the first session goes to Felipe Massa and a very quick Robert Kubica. I hope BMW will be stronger here and can hopefully challenge McLaren and Ferrari. It’s clear though that the damp track caused a bit of muddled up grid, but Kimi is looking okay. The next session begins at 19:00 GMT!