10/06/2011
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's second practice session the air temperature is 22 degrees C, while the track temperature is 44 degrees. It remains bright and sunny.
The lack of grip caught out a number of drivers this morning, not least Sebastian Vettel who added his name to the growing list of world champions who have hit the notorious champions' wall on the pit straight.
Nico Rosberg was quickest, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher with the McLaren duo hot on their heels. The Red Bull duo, who face their biggest challenge of the season this weekend, could do no better than twelfth and sixteenth.
The big news is that following this morning's session, Sauber has opted to replace Sergio Perez with (McLaren test and reserve driver) Pedro de la Rosa. The Spaniard will replace the Mexican, who crashed heavily in Monaco two weeks ago, for the remainder of the weekend. Apparently Perez felt unwell during this morning's session.
The lights go green and Alguersuari is first out followed, shortly after, by Kovalainen, di Resta, Karthikeyan, Kobayashi, d'Ambrosio and Petrov.
Alguersuari posts the first time of the afternoon, the Spaniard crossing the line at 21.955. Moments later di Resta posts a 20.038.
On his first flying lap, Massa, who goes quickest in S3, posts a 21.633 to go fifth. Meanwhile, di Resta improves with a 19.093.
Heidfeld goes quickest in the first two sectors and again in the third, the Renault driver crossing the line at 17.499 to go quickest. Massa goes second and Petrov third.
As Barrichello posts 18.654 to go fourth, Heidfeld raises the benchmark with a 17.499.
On his first flying lap, Webber goes fourth (18.051) as teammate Vettel begins his first flying lap. Hamilton, Button and de la Rosa have yet to make an appearance.
As Massa is told to try lifting and cruising in the hairpin, in an attempt to cool his brakes, Webber improves to second with a 17.243. Teammate Vettel goes eighth with a 19.042 before improving with a 16.262 to take the top spot. None the worse following his crash this morning, the German posts a 15.739 to raise the bar ever higher.
Hamilton goes third, ahead of Alonso, Heidfeld, Massa, Petrov and Maldonado.
Replay shows Massa getting his rear end very, very close to the champions' wall. The Brazilian was world champion for around twenty seconds at the end of 2008.
Even though the track is becoming a little less 'green' with every lap, drivers continue to struggle, whether it's drifting just a little too close to a wall, locking up or missing the chicanes.
After thirty minutes de la Rosa has yet to make an appearance.
Sutil, who, like Buemi, didn't take part this morning, goes fifth with a 16.905. Massa continues to tempt fate in terms of the champions' wall.
As Vettel gets into all sorts of trouble at Turn 8 (the other chicane), Alguersuari is the first driver to switch to the option (supersofts).
At the entrance to the pitlane a marshal is waving a slippery surface flag.
Having gone quickest in S1 and posted a PB is S2, Hamilton misses the final chicane. Consequently the McLaren driver remains fourth on 15.977.
Alonso goes quickest with a 15.205, the Ferraris looking good here this weekend. Teammate Massa is currently third (15.601) sandwiching Vettel.
Trulli, currently twentieth (21.005), switches to options, immediately improving to seventeenth (19.051).
Sutil hits the barriers after Turn 7, ripping off the front-left. The German, who was on options, had improved to tenth (16.905), and looked likely to improve again having posted a PB in S1.
At Renault, Petrov and Heidfeld are running different rear wings, the Russian is currently seventh and his teammate eighth.
Sauber's weekend goes from bad to worse as Kobayashi clouts the barriers just after Turn 4. The Japanese driver is fine but the front of the car is badly damaged. As the session is red flagged we have yet to see de la Rosa make an appearance.
The Ferraris and McLarens were both about to begin their first flying laps on the supersoft rubber.
With 28:00 on the clock, it's: Alonso, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Button, Webber, Petrov, Heidfeld, Barrichello and Sutil.
After an eleven minute stoppage the session resumes, Pedro de la Rosa one of the first drivers back on track.
As Webber posts a PB in S1, just moments after the resumption of the session, d'Ambrosio crashes at exactly the same spot as Kobayashi. Once again the session is red flagged. Replay suggests the Belgian, who was on options, carried far too much speed into the corner.
Hamilton returns to the pits with a puncture (debris?) while Ferrari reports that debris from Kobayashi's car ended up in Massa's cockpit.
The session resumes after six minutes stoppage time, as McLaren report a problem with the floor on Hamilton's McLaren. This is more bad news for the English driver who has also lost a set of options.
When the lights go green Heidfeld leads the way for what should be a frantic final thirteen minutes.
At which point, as in this morning's session, we lose visual coverage.
Di Resta improves to ninth with a 16.471 as Vettel is told to be aggressive and pass the cars ahead of him. This is because he has a queue of cars behind. Di Resta subsequently posts a 16.089 to go sixth.
Alonso goes quickest in S1 however, a poor final sector due to traffic means he fails to improve. De la Rosa posts his first time of the session, the Spaniard going twenty-third with a 20.833. Next time around he posts 19.291 to go twentieth.
Though everyone is on the options there are no significant improvements, thought it's unclear whether this is due to traffic or fuel loads.
The session ends with Alonso quickest, ahead of Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Button, di Resta, Webber, Petrov, Heidfeld and Barrichello.
Sutil is eleventh, ahead of Maldonado, Buemi, Alguersuari, Kobayashi, Trulli, Kovalainen, de la Rosa, Rosberg, Schumacher, Glock, Liuzzi, Karthikeyan and d'Ambrosio.
To check out our Montreal practice gallery, click here.