Ferrari driver outpaces Mercedes drivers at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as Vettel is fourth fastest.Fernando Alonso finished the opening practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend at the top of the timesheet, the Ferrari beating out Mercedes rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who were second and third respectively. Sebastian Vettel was fourth-fastest for Red Bull Racing.
Alonso set a best lap of 1:17.238 to finish just under two hundredths of a second ahead of Hamilton whose best time of 1:17.254 was over a tenth of a second clear of team-mate Rosberg.
The top three were well clear of the rest of the field, with Vettel’s fourth-placed time being just under a second adrift of Alonso’s benchmark. Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Williams, the Finn exploiting the Mercedes engine that is expected to make the difference on the long, fast straights of the Montreal circuit. Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull was sixth fastest. The Milton Keynes-based team have already admitted they are expecting a difficult weekend due to the deficit their Renault power unit has to the pacesetting Mercedes.
Ricciardo was followed by the McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, while Kimi Raikkonen was ninth in the second Ferrari, some 1.3s down on his team-mate. The top 10 order was completed by Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne, who eclipsed rookie team-mate Daniil Kvyat by more than half a second around the daunting, high-speed track.
As ever, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s close walls played a part in the session. With little grip available from the temporary track, several drivers had close brushes with the barriers. Most got away with minimal contact but Marussia’s Jules Bianchi was caught out and the Frenchman struck the wall on the exit on the exit of turn four sustaining damage to the right rear of his car. Bianchi eventually limped back to the pits for repairs.
Felipe Massa had few chances to test the limits of the circuit. The Brazilian completed just seven laps during the session.
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m17.238s 21 laps2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m17.254s +0.016s 253. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m17.384s +0.146s 324. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m18.131s +0.893s 285. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m18.361s +1.123s 206. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m18.435s +1.197s 267. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m18.446s +1.208s 338. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m18.514s +1.276s 319. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m18.578s +1.340s 1510 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m18.643s +1.405s 1411 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m18.733s +1.495s 3012 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m18.959s +1.721s 2213 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m19.108s +1.870s 2414 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m19.142s +1.904s 3215 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m19.177s +1.939s 2116 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m19.340s +2.102s 3717 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m19.575s +2.337s 718 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m19.804s +2.566s 1519 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m20.200s +2.962s 1520 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m20.844s +3.606s 2621 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m21.404s +4.166s 3322 Alexander Rossi Caterham-Renault 1m21.757s +4.519s 27
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