Canadian GP - An encouraging start
Montreal, 10 June – How often has it been written that it is hard to analyse the meaning of Friday free practice times given the uncertainties of other teams’ fuel loads and work programmes? Nevertheless, it is always good to see your name at the top of the time sheet and this afternoon, Fernando Alonso was quickest and adding to this encouraging start to the Canadian weekend, Felipe Massa took the other 150º Italia to third place. Splitting the two Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers was Sebastian Vettel. However, it was not a straightforward day for the reigning world champion, as he badly damaged his Red Bull in the morning, when he crashed into the wall at the final corner. The spot is known as the “Champions Wall” because over the years, it’s noticeable that many world champions have indeed crashed at this point!
The accident brought out the Red Flag, which was also required in the afternoon, when Kamui Kobayashi had a crash in the Sauber, fortunately without sustaining any injury. The Swiss Ferrari-powered team had other problems to contend with: having undergone several medical checks after his frightening accident in Monaco a fortnight ago and declared fit to race, Sergio Perez will take no further part in the Canadian Grand Prix. The Mexican drove his Sauber in FP1 but felt unwell after the session. He was replaced in FP2 by Pedro de la Rosa who is “on loan” to the Swiss team from McLaren. Fourth and fifth fastest were the two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, while Paul di Resta was a solid sixth in the Force India.
This weekend sees the first appearance of the F1 cars in low downforce configuration to deal with the high speed sections of this extremely tricky track, where cars can hit speeds of over 320 km/h at some points. Combine that with the fact that, on Sunday, for the first time this year, cars can use the DRS in two places rather than the usual one and a feat of overtaking could be on the cards. Before that, the drivers have one more free practice session tomorrow morning, followed by qualifying. The biggest uncertainty is the weather, because today’s warm and sunny conditions could well be replaced by showers at some point tomorrow. If they arrive in time for qualifying, anything could happen and, given that changes to set-up are very restricted by the regulations, some gambling will be involved in choosing the best one to adopt not just for qualifying, but also for Sunday’s race.
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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