Earlier,
Bruno Senna lost control of his Williams-Renault F1 car while attempting to negotiate turns 13-and 14 at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve a few moments ago and crashed backwards into the outer retaining wall.
He was not injured, although the car needs to be repaired.
In the morning practice on Friday, Heikki Kovalainen lost control of His Caterham and did a number on it, although not on himself.
Earlier,
Lewis Hamilton is back atop the practice time trial leader board thisd afternoon, a spot he occupied at the end of this morning's first practice session for Sunday's Grand Prix of Canada.
Hamilton's best time of 1 minute, 15:439 seconds around Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is marginally better than his time this morning but still well short of the pole speed of 1:13:014 that was set last year by double world champion Sebastien Vettel.
But it's still early. The cars and drivers will practice today and then again Saturday morning before going out for an official qualifying session Saturday afternoon to set the lineup for Sunday's 2 p.m. race.
Meantime, it's looking more and more like rain here on Ilse Notre-Dame, an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, site of the Grand Prix.
By the way, the usual, large, Friday crowd is in attendance and the atmosphere is festive, as it always is at Grand Prix time in Montreal.
There is a strong police and security presence at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and any organized protest would have a difficult time getting to the circuit, considering the number of roadblocks and police checks between downtown and the island.
Earlier,
Fernando Alonso just had a close escape, spinning wildly at the exit of turn four, close to the same spot where Heikki Kovalainen had his accident this morning.
Earlier,
The screams of high-strung Formula One racing engines enveloped Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve once again this afternoon as practice continued for Sunday's Grand Prix of Canada.
Romain Grosjean, a Lotus driver some people consider a dark horse to win Sunday's race, was among the first to set a fast time but was also among the first to go off the racing circuit in the second session.
Fernando Alonso crept to the top of the time charts after the first 15 minutes and was running in the 1 minute, 16-second range - about a second slower than the top drivers ran in the morning practice session.
This morning's session was overcast and there were sprinkles of rain. This afternoon, the sun is out but there are storm clouds gathering.
Earlier Friday:
Bruno Senna lost control of his Williams-Renault F1 car while attempting to negotiate turns 13-and 14 at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve a few moments ago and crashed backwards into the outer retaining wall.
He was not injured, although the car needs to be repaired.
In the morning practice on Friday, Heikki Kovalainen lost control of His Caterham and did a number on it, although not on himself.
Earlier,
Lewis Hamilton is back atop the practice time trial leader board thisd afternoon, a spot he occupied at the end of this morning's first practice session for Sunday's Grand Prix of Canada.
Hamilton's best time of 1 minute, 15:439 seconds around Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is marginally better than his time this morning but still well short of the pole speed of 1:13:014 that was set last year by double world champion Sebastien Vettel.
But it's still early. The cars and drivers will practice today and then again Saturday morning before going out for an official qualifying session Saturday afternoon to set the lineup for Sunday's 2 p.m. race.
Meantime, it's looking more and more like rain here on Ilse Notre-Dame, an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, site of the Grand Prix.
By the way, the usual, large, Friday crowd is in attendance and the atmosphere is festive, as it always is at Grand Prix time in Montreal.
There is a strong police and security presence at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and any organized protest would have a difficult time getting to the circuit, considering the number of roadblocks and police checks between downtown and the island.
Earlier,
Fernando Alonso just had a close escape, spinning wildly at the exit of turn four, close to the same spot where Heikki Kovalainen had his accident this morning.
Earlier,
The screams of high-strung Formula One racing engines enveloped Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve once again this afternoon as practice continued for Sunday's Grand Prix of Canada.
Romain Grosjean, a Lotus driver some people consider a dark horse to win Sunday's race, was among the first to set a fast time but was also among the first to go off the racing circuit in the second session.
Fernando Alonso crept to the top of the time charts afgter the first 15 minutes and was running in the 1 minute, 16-second range - about a second slower than the top drivers ran in the morning practice session.
This morning's session was overcast and there were sprinkles of rain. This afternoon, the sun is out but there are storm clouds gathering.
Earlier Friday:
Two-time Canadian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets after first practice for Sunday's Grand Prix of Canada today, turning a lap of 1 minute, 15.564 seconds around the 4.361-kilometre Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in his McLaren-Mercedes F1 racing car.
He pipped two-time world champion Sebastien Vettel, whose best time in a Red Bull-Renault was 1:15:682.
Next came Mercedes driver Nicol Rosberg at 1:15:782, Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari at 1:15:842 and Mark Webber, who won the last Grand Prix at Monaco for Red Bull, at 1:15:897.
The remaining racers in the top ten were Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and Jenson Button (McLaren).
The times in first practice were well off the pole time of a year ago - 1:13:04 set by Vettel - and the outright race lap record of 1:13:622 set by a Ferrari in 2004 driven by Rubens Barrichello.
Earlier, the pit lane went green at a little after 11 a.m. following Heikki Kovalainen's crash and all cars - save the one that was wrecked - are on track.
The practice will continue for another 25 minutes before there is a lunch break scheduled. The afternoon practice is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m.
Earlier,
Heikki Kovalainen hit the wall in his Caterham 50 minutes into the session this morning. He is out of the car and unhurt but the car is badly damaged.
Kovalainen went wide exiting turn four and slammed the wall halfway to turn five, knocking two wheels off.
Earlier,
Jean-Eric Vergne of France drove his Torro Rosso F1 car onto Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve sharp at 10 o'clock this morning to open practice for Sunday's Grand Prix du Canada.
Under threatening skies, the other 23 drivers were quickly out of the pits and hard at work to prepare for this year's seventh Grand Prix.
First Kimi Raikkonen was tops on the time charts, but in the next nano-second, Nico Rosberg's name was on top as the Mercedes and Lotus-Renault drivers took turns doing fast laps.
After 20 minutes, six drivers had not gone out on the circuit - two-time world champion Sebastien Vettel, Timo Glock, Jenson Button (who won this race a year ago), Charles Pic, Pastor Maldonado and Mark Webber.
As is the case in the first practice session at any Grand Prix, some drivers were very quick right out of the box - Lewis Hamilton, for instance - and others were off the track, jumping curbs and missing apexes.
Trips across the grass were frequent.
A fox ran across the circuit at one point, causing what looked to be a Toro Rosso driver to hit the brakes. Fox escaped; driver carried on.
Great job Carl!! And to everyone who is saniyg that Carl should have been black flagged for the wreck in turn 2 well, he isnt the only one who has wrecked somebody like that. Hello Kyle Busch wrecks people almost all the time.. What about Robby Gordon? He wrecks people on road courses a lot. Im not saniyg its right but its racing.. Deal with it!!Great race, one of the best in my opinion.Carl is a really good driver and he deserved this win!!
Posted by: Carlos | 07/13/2012 at 02:37 AM