GP – Free Practice 2: Hamilton, stronger than his 2007 pole

Lewis Hamilton finishes this Friday’s testing day at the top, with a race victory in sight on Sunday that would strengthen his position as the leader in the World Drivers’ Championship.

The Briton is back on the turf that brought him into the spotlight as it was in Canada that he secured his first Grand Prix victory. He completed a lap in 1’15″766, equaling his pole position time in 2007.

It seems that Robert Kubica is in very good shape since he is still 2nd. Indeed, his BMW remained at the top for quite some time.

Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari took third place but could have been better positioned if he hadn’t made small mistakes in the second sector.

The McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen, could have also been faster, but due to a small mistake, he only managed a fourth-best time.

Felipe Massa finished fifth but missed the last 15 minutes of the session as his Ferrari appeared to suffer from a technical failure.

Kubica’s teammate, Nick Heidfeld, was fast at the start of the session but kept losing positions as the minutes went by. He finished 6th.

Mark Webber is seventh while Nico Rosberg, in 8th place, struggled to contain the impressive Sebastian Vettel, who is ninth. Jarno Trulli completes the top ten.

The two Renaults are very far behind. Fernando Alonso, who suffered an off-track excursion midway through the session at turn two, couldn’t repair his car in time.

Nelson Piquet, still as unlucky as ever, seemed to be suffering from a brake failure.