Lewis Hamilton continued his impressive form on Canadian soil, taking the fastest time again in the second practice session in Montreal – but both Ferrari’s of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were impressively close on his tail.
With the threat of rain hanging over the circuit, all the teams made the most of the time allocated. One driver unfortunate enough to have car problems was Jenson Button – the Brit had only completed 12 laps in the morning session before a gearbox issue curtailed his on track action. Button would eventually get some laps in during the final 15 minutes, but complained of low front grip, lapping 0.5 seconds off the pace.
Photo: The Cahier Archive
In other news, Bruno Senna added his name to the list of drivers who have crashed into the Wall of Champions. The Brazilian lost his Williams on the kerbs on the final chicane and spun in the wall, badly damaging the right hand side of his Williams. The accident brought out the red flag, stopping the action for 20 minutes or so.
It was an encouraging outing for Ferrari, especially for Felipe Massa. The much-maligned Brazilian finished less than a tenth behind teammate Alonso, who had a wild spin in Turns 8/9. Fernando also had a small trip across the grass, but was the closest challenger to Hamilton’s dominance.
Both Force India and Sauber had strong showings, with Di Resta 5th, Hulkenberg 8th, and Kobayashi 6th, respectively.
Canadian Grand Prix – Second Practice
1. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.259s
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari + 0.054
3. Felipe Massa, Ferrari + 0.151
4. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault + 0.272
5. Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes + 0.285
6. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber-Ferrari + 0.392
7. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes + 0.438
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes + 0.540
9. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes + 0.553
10. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes + 0.619
11. Sergio Perez, Sauber-Ferrari + 0.639
12. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault + 0.648
13. Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault + 0.728
14. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault + 1.101
15. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault + 1.303
16. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham-Renault + 1.722
17. Bruno Senna, Williams-Renault + 1.763
18. Vitaly Petrov, Caterham-Renault + 1.816
19. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1.865
20. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 2.457
21. Pedro de la Rosa, HRT-Cosworth + 3.649
22. Timo Glock, Marussia-Cosworth + 3.825
23. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT-Cosworth + 4.119
24. Charles Pic, Marussia-Cosworth + 4.643
James McBride
June 9, 2012
Great to see Massa back up next to Alonso, will be interested to see if he can keep it up over the weekend…