Canada – Free Practice 1: Hamilton leads the attack

During a session interrupted for 12 minutes following Heikki Kovalainen's harmless exit in his Caterham, and noted for the friendly visits of the Île Notre-Dame's wildlife, Lewis Hamilton stood out by setting the fastest time, while the afternoon might be disrupted by rain.

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Rédigé par Par

It’s under a cloudy sky and cooler temperatures than expected, 20°C in the air versus 22°C on the track, that this first session of the Canadian weekend begins. Similar to two weeks ago in Monaco, all the full-time drivers are present from this session. And since rain is forecasted for the afternoon, the drivers are eager to complete their traditional installation lap, with Jean-Éric Vergne (Toro Rosso) being the first to head out.

The Red Bulls are already equipped with an array of sensors, on the pontoon for Sebastian Vettel, and behind the left front wheel for Mark Webber, while Felipe Massa is using new exhausts, largely inspired by McLaren’s solution, and a significant amount of green liquid for visualizing aerodynamic flow.

Time flies quickly, and if the on-track action doesn’t begin before the 10-minute mark, it is used by mechanics to detach the sensors, photograph the shapes traced by the green liquid before cleaning it, and make initial changes if needed.

Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) is the first man to start his stopwatch and set a time of 1:20.347 (Softs). Hot on his heels, Romain Grosjean lowers the mark by a tenth. Quickly, the times drop; the benchmark being set by Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) at 1:16.837 (Softs) while Bruno Senna (Williams) struggles to find his braking points, forcing him to cut corner 8 then the last chicane, before being imitated by Paul di Resta (Force India) and Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham) a few minutes later, also at corner 13.

Trajectory deviations explained by the few drops that fall at the pit entrance, making the circuit slightly slippery there, allowing Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) to first set the second fastest time, then lower the reference time to 1:16.080 (Softs). And just when it’s believed the Englishman will improve his time, lighting up his sectors in purple on the computer screens, he returns to the pits.

Only one hour of driving remains when Felipe Massa (Ferrari) climbs to third place, only preceded by Kamui Kobayashi and Lewis Hamilton. With temperatures far from predictions for a June in Montreal, the McLaren mechanics use duct tape to block the brake scoops, which are too cooled and thus losing their effectiveness.

The failed brakings follow one another, with Narain Karthikeyan being caught out in the last corner, then Romain Grosjean in turn 8, without consequences. At this moment, only the Marussia cars and Jenson Button, whom we previously saw performing a second installation lap, don’t have a time yet, despite each having completed 5 or 6 laps.

And as a fox crosses the track between turns 4 and 5, the rain briefly reappears, catching Mark Webber by surprise at the braking of turn 3, but not stopping his session. The Australian manages to set a time of 1:16.347 (Soft) on his next lap, placing him third behind Nico Rosberg, who had just closed in on Lewis Hamilton, with the Englishman taking the opportunity to go back out. Webber’s small mistake is mirrored by Bruno Senna, who makes his third error of the session. The Brazilian has to engage reverse gear to get going again, also without damage.

The hierarchy tightens, with Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher each posting two consecutive times in the window of 1:16.1 to 1:16.4, joined by Jenson Button, finally out, 6th with 1:16.347 (Softs).

And the first driver to be surprised by the Canadian track is Heikki Kovalainen, exiting turn 9. The Finn spins too much, oversteers, and fails to recover before hitting the outer wall, tearing off his right front wheel. The quite impressive amount of debris, and seemingly grass, strewn across the track forces the race management to bring out the red flag with 40 minutes remaining, the clock continuing to run as required by the rules in case of an interruption during a free practice session.

And while the stewards struggle to control the Caterham once it is hoisted by the crane, the car swinging to the point of hitting the track, the top 12 drivers are within a second of each other in the following order: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Schumacher, Webber, Button, Kobayashi, Massa, Perez, Grosjean, Alonso, and Räikkönen. The two Marussias bring up the rear, having only completed at most three flying laps each.

The interruption allows the observation that the Red Bulls carry additional cameras beyond those provided by the FOM. Such a setup enables them to capture their own images and to assess, for example, the deformation of the bodywork.

The session resumes with 28 minutes of running left, and it’s Fernando Alonso who is the first to hit the track again. Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher take the opportunity to perform practice starts at the exit of the pits.

The sky remains threatening, and Lewis Hamilton is forced to cut across the first two corners after missing the braking point leading into the Senna corner. Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg sets the fastest time at 1:15.782, narrowly avoiding a collision with a Ferrari on the long straight before the pits. His time is beaten within the minute by Lewis Hamilton, with a time of 1:15.564. Sebastian Vettel also avoids a slower car, which turns out to be Bruno Senna, in a more cavalier manner by cutting the last chicane without easing off too much. An investigation will be opened into this maneuver. The German is also caught off guard on his next pass through turn 8, following the path previously taken by Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean.

Close-up is then done on the front wing of the Mercedes, slightly modified to adapt the car to the need for top speed on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, simply by removing the elements located above the main elements of the nose.

There is a quarter of an hour left when Sebastian Vettel climbs to 4th place in the hierarchy, with a time of 1:16.010 (Soft), surpassed a few minutes later by Kamui Kobayashi with a flat 1:16.000. Animal visits continue with a squirrel, which reaches the middle of the track, changes its mind, and chooses to turn back for safety.

Jenson Button’s Friday seems compromised, as his car is cut in half for repairs due to an oil leak in his gearbox, while the Englishman needs track time to solve his balance issues and rain is expected to make a stronger appearance in the afternoon, preventing teams from exploring all setup possibilities. However, McLaren’s Twitter account announces that the MP4-27 will be quickly repaired for the next session.

With 3 minutes to go, as most of the drivers seem to be out on Super Soft tires, Nico Hülkenberg sets the 7th fastest time with 1:16.079 and Sebastian Vettel moves up to 3rd place with 1:15.801. The checkered flag waves over the pit straight as the German, setting the best second sector in the process, progresses again in the hierarchy by finishing his lap in second position with 1:15.682. The session ends with a practice pit stop for Mercedes, with a tire change for Nico Rosberg.

Free Practice 1 Results of the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix:

Driver Team Times Gap Laps
1
Hamilton McLaren 1:15.564
30
2
Vettel Red Bull 1:15.682 +0.118
29
3
Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:15.782 +0.218
30
4
Alonso Ferrari 1:15.842 +0.278
34
5
Webber Red Bull 1:15.897 +0.333
28
6
Hülkenberg Force India 1:15.986 +0.422
29
7
Kobayashi Sauber 1:16.000 +0.436
31
8
Perez Sauber 1:16.249 +0.685
32
9
Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:16.264 +0.700
28
10
Button McLaren 1:16.347 +0.783
12
11
di Resta Force India 1:16.460 +0.896
32
12
Massa Ferrari 1:16.619 +1.055
17
13
Maldonado Williams 1:16.859 +1.295
26
14
Grosjean Lotus F1 Team 1:16.890 +1.326
36
15
Räikkönen Lotus F1 Team 1:17.014 +1.450
42
16
Vergne Toro Rosso 1:17.352 +1.788
28
17
Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:17.580 +2.016
31
18
Petrov Caterham F1 1:17.935 +2.371
23
19
Kovalainen Caterham F1 1:18.177 +2.613
16
20
De la Rosa HRT 1:18.182 +2.618
26
21
Senna Williams 1:18.762 +3.198
36
22
Karthikeyan HRT 1:19.354 +3.790
23
23
Glock Marussia Virgin 1:20.004 +4.440
21
24
Pic Marussia Virgin 1:20.067 +4.503
23
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