Fernando Alonso topped what was a stuttered second practice session in Montreal.
The Ferrari man set a best lap of 1:15.107 to give himself a three-tenths advantage over Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Alonso completed 34 laps in a session that was red flagged twice, thanks to crashes from Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Jerome d’Ambrosio (Virgin).
Adrian Sutil also lost a battle with a Montreal wall – the Force India man drifted on to the marbles and into turn 7’s welcoming barriers on his 16th lap, although that did not stop the session. It is something that could prove problematic for Sutil – the 25-year-old missed out on morning practice as his seat was taken by Nico Hulkenberg.
The only driver to run fewer laps than Sutil was Sauber returnee Pedro de la Rosa. The Spaniard stepped in for Sergio Perez, who reportedly felt ill following the morning’s opening session, but was unfortunately only able to run in the final twenty minutes of practice.
Amongst all the drama, Vettel completed 29 laps on his way to 2nd spot – a very good achievement considering he smashed the wall only a few hours previously.
Felipe Massa (3rd) once again finished ahead of the McLaren pair, this time led by Lewis Hamilton (4th), with Button trailing his compatriot by a mere 0.012 of-a-second. The afternoon wasn’t all clear for Hamilton – the 2008 World Champion damaged the floor of his MP4-26 late in the session, finishing his day early.
Hamilton’s fellow-Brit, Paul di Resta, continued to impress for Force India – he took 6th ahead of Mark Webber (7th, Red Bull), Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld (both Renault’s).
Rubens Barrichello completed 28 laps on his way to 10th in the Williams FW33. His Venezuelan teammate, Pastor Maldonado, was the busiest man of the afternoon, clocking up 39 laps and securing the 12th best time.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m15.107s 34 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m15.476s + 0.369 29 3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m15.601s + 0.494 33 4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.977s + 0.870 26 5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.989s + 0.882 25 6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m16.089s + 0.982 34 7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m16.102s + 0.995 28 8. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m16.324s + 1.217 32 9. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m16.422s + 1.315 32 10. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m16.687s + 1.580 28 11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m16.905s + 1.798 16 12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m16.941s + 1.834 39 13. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.051s + 1.944 32 14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.684s + 2.577 34 15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m17.757s + 2.650 20 16. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m18.470s + 3.363 33 17. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m18.482s + 3.375 38 18. Pedro de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1m18.536s + 3.429 14 19. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m18.601s + 3.494 38 20. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m19.209s + 4.102 28 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m19.810s + 4.703 25 22. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m20.284s + 5.177 31 23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m20.311s + 5.204 38 24. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m20.922s + 5.815 26
