Canada – Free Practice 2: Hamilton repeats in Montreal

Although the rain made an appearance before the free practice sessions, it was on a dry track that Jean-Eric Vergne set off on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, thus kicking off the installation laps, as the ambient temperature rose to 22°C. Jenson Button, however, is not expected to take part in this free practice session, as his MP4-27 is completely disassembled in the garage after an oil leak was detected. The McLaren mechanics are working hard on the rear part of the car, particularly around the gearbox.

The drivers are quick to challenge the clock as the session might end in rain. Thus, Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) is the first to set a benchmark time at 1:21.108 (Softs). His teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, does better on Super Soft tires but is outpaced by Kimi Räikkönen and then Kamui Kobayashi, who completes a lap in 1:17.709 on soft tires. Räikkönen improves with a 1:17.391, but it’s Rosberg who ultimately takes the lead with 1:16.738.

A few moments later, Timo Glock has quite a scare, as does Romain Grosjean, after missing his braking at turn 1 and sliding on the wet grass before coming back onto the track right in front of the Frenchman, fortunately without any damage for either of them.

Meanwhile, Pastor Maldonado snatches the best time from Rosberg with a 1:16.671, but the German takes it back with a 1:16.290 before Alonso pulls out a 1:16.240 from his hat. But Lewis Hamilton doesn’t take long to settle the matter with a lap time of 1:15.895 while Bruno Senna makes another off-track excursion, despite having already fulfilled his quota during Free Practice 1. At the same spot, Fernando Alonso soon gets caught out, losing control of his F2012 after running onto the grass. The Spaniard spins but manages to get back on track to the applause of a track marshal.

After an animated first quarter hour of testing, Lewis Hamilton leads the pack with a time of 1:15.662, ahead of Paul di Resta, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Sergio Pérez, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi, and Pastor Maldonado. On the track, the drivers are zigzagging on the long straight to warm up their tires while the sky remains overcast.

Lap after lap, Lewis Hamilton drives the point home and beats his best time of the morning with a 1:15.439. Meanwhile, on Super Soft tires, Sebastian Vettel is only in a modest 19th place: the German seems to be focusing on race preparations, while his teammate climbs to the second spot in the standings on Soft tires, although half a second behind Hamilton.

As the Sauber drivers put on the Super Soft tires with red sidewalls, Sebastian Vettel nearly gets caught in the same spot as Fernando Alonso, managing to keep his RB8 on track, while Michael Schumacher doesn’t hold back with his F1 W03 in the final chicane, cheerfully riding the curbs. The German gradually closes in on Lewis Hamilton’s best time while Kamui Kobayashi, on Soft tires, positions himself between the two men.

Paul di Resta also has a scare at the braking of turn no. 1, his Force India VJM05 skidding into the runoff area: both the man and his machine come out unscathed and rejoin the track. Nevertheless, the Scotsman improves on the next lap by going under the 1 minute 16 seconds mark, but falls short of the Top 5.

After his morning accident, Heikki Kovalainen returns to the track at the wheel of the Caterham CT01. The Finn sets, on Soft tires, an initial benchmark time of 1:18.350 then 1:18.145. Behind him, Lewis Hamilton improves his best time on Super Soft tires but only betters one of his three best sectors. However, the Briton also gets caught out at the same spot as Senna, Alonso, and Vettel before him. The Spaniard, moreover, disproves the saying that one never returns to the scene of the crime, as he narrowly avoids another mishap at turn 8.

On a long stint, Sebastian Vettel climbs to second place on Soft tires, while Hamilton asks his race engineer where he can improve.

At mid-session, Bruno Senna makes a critical error by hitting the rear and then the front into the tires located at the foot of the wall at the champion’s corner. The Williams FW34 is scattered on the track like a puzzle, but the Brazilian extricates himself from his car as the Red Flag is raised. After an hour of testing, Lewis Hamilton leads Vettel, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Rosberg, Massa, Perez, Webber, Di Resta, and Maldonado. In twelfth, Romain Grosjean is ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, while at the back of the pack, Charles Pic is eight-tenths behind his teammate.

After a good ten minutes of session interruption, the drivers return to the track, with Michael Schumacher taking the opportunity to perform a standing start test at the end of the pit lane. Felipe Massa climbs to 5th place with a time of 1:15.707. Moments later, Fernando Alonso places his Ferrari in 3rd position, after taking advantage of a HRT’s slipstream on the straight.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, both on Super Soft tires, then compete for second place, with the Brazilian clocking a lap of 1:15.410 before the Spaniard sets a lap of 1:15.313. Alonso further improves in the first sector on the following lap but ultimately heads into the pit lane.

While McLaren confirms that Button’s MP4-27 suffered from an oil leak in the gearbox, the Englishman returns to the track as the last quarter of practice approaches. The 2009 world champion, on soft tires, complains of front grip issues, which does not prevent him from clocking a 1:16.573 lap time.

In the last few minutes, almost all the cars are on the track, most on Super Soft tires. Narain Karthikeyan, who had complained to his mechanics about too much carbon dust coming from his brakes, will not return to the track, while Sebastian Vettel remains loyal to the soft tires.

Under the checkered flag, Lewis Hamilton maintains the lead in the standings and confirms his good form from the morning. The Englishman is ahead of the two Ferrari drivers and Sebastian Vettel, who seems to have focused mainly on race preparations. Paul di Resta completes the Top 5.

Free Practice 2 Standings of the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix: