GP Canada – Free Practice 2: Alonso Dominates Chaotic Session

It is with a track temperature of 44°C and ambient temperature of 22°C that the second free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix opens, held at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. A small surprise at the green flag in the paddock as Pedro de la Rosa makes an appearance in the Sauber garage: the Spaniard will replace Sergio Pérez, who is unavailable, for the entire weekend at Sauber.

Many drivers are taking to the track, and Alguersuari is the first to set a benchmark time of 1:21.955 before improving it by more than a second on the next lap.

As Ferrari announces it will further evaluate the experimental soft tires proposed by Pirelli during these practice sessions, Felipe Massa takes the fastest time with 1:18.599 before exchanging it several times with Nick Heidfeld. But the final word goes to Sebastian Vettel who sets the best time at 1:16.262 then 1:15.739: the German has already put his free practice 1 accident behind him, judging by the way he flirts with the Wall of Champions.

For his first stint of the day, Lewis Hamilton climbs to 3rd place while Felipe Massa’s onboard camera shows that the Brazilian narrowly avoided receiving a warm welcome in Quebec.

After a quarter of an hour, Pedro de la Rosa is the only driver who has not yet left his pit. His teammate, Kamui Kobayashi, is in 11th place.

The teams are working on track, alternating between long and short stints, as Mercedes’ Rosberg and Schumacher remain discreet on the timing sheet. The drivers are gaining confidence and are increasingly brushing against the walls, while mistakes are numerous on heavy braking points. On a fast lap, Lewis Hamilton improves in his first two sectors but misses at the pit lane chicane. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, doesn’t miss and sets a time of 1:15.205, one-tenth off Lewis Hamilton’s pole position from last season: the Spaniard is on soft tires, the hardest available from Pirelli this weekend.

The response from the championship leader is not long in coming, as Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest time in the second sector but fails to secure the top spot, finishing in second place at the end of his lap.

At mid-session, Fernando Alonso is ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, and Mark Webber. Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov, Adrian Sutil, and Pastor Maldonado are closing the doors of the Top 10. However, with the super soft tires, Rubens Barrichello soon appears in the Top 10 in 9th position, while Adrian Sutil was caught off guard at the chicane exit where the German left the front left suspension of his Force India.

Flags calling flags, Kamui Kobayashi made a big off-track excursion without harm to the driver, mounting the curbs: the marshals waved the red flag to evacuate the Japanese driver’s C30. “I’m out, sorry,” declared ‘Koba’ on his radio: there are no more Saubers on the track for the moment. On its Twitter account, Scuderia Ferrari reports that they found debris from the Sauber in Felipe Massa’s car: “Our guys will return them to their garage.”

The clock continues to run under the red flag during free practice, leading to a mini race start at the green flag between Mark Webber, the two Virgin drivers, and Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber. The drivers and their teams aim to waste no time. However, the session is soon interrupted again by the red flag: Jérôme d’Ambrosio crashes at the same spot as Kamui Kobayashi, almost head-on, with the same consequences. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton returns to the pits with a flat right rear tire: the British driver’s car likely ran over debris from the Virgin.

Once again the drivers rush out of the pit lane and take the opportunity to perform start simulations. The leading drivers have fitted the super-soft tires with red sidewalls, while De la Rosa sets his first time at 1:21.873.

Sebastian Vettel sets a time over one minute 17, but does not use his DRS on the straight while Fernando Alonso improves his own best time by taking advantage of the slipstream from Nick Heidfeld’s Lotus Renault GP: 1:15.107 for the Spaniard. The Ferrari driver gets back to work on the next lap, improving in the first sector, but fails to deliver at the end of his lap. Despite the super-soft tires, few drivers make significant improvements, and the Spaniard holds onto his lead ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, and the two McLaren drivers. Nico Rosberg, who set the best time in the morning, is only 19th, ahead of his teammate: it was a studious afternoon for the Mercedes drivers. De la Rosa, for his part, returning to Sauber, completed 14 laps with the best time of 1:18.536 (18th).

Results of Free Practice 2