Fernando Alonso has moved ahead in the second practice session of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, marking Ferrari as a potential dark horse this weekend with team-mate Felipe Massa third-fastest.
Sebastian Vettel managed to split the Ferraris on the timesheets, having recovered from his hefty smash in the first practice session earlier today, but other drivers – most notably Kamui Kobayashi and Jérôme d’Ambrosio – caused interruptions to the ninety-minute session with accidents at Turn 4.
The big news story of the session was Sergio Pérez unexpectedly deciding to pull out of further action this weekend, with his seat at Sauber being taken over by Pedro de la Rosa, who was given just ten minutes notice to make his return to the team with whom he drove last year.
After a mad scramble, the McLaren test driver rocked up at the Swiss team’s garages wearing his McLaren overalls, while Pérez elected not to participate any further despite finishing the first practice session eleventh-fastest. De la Rosa managed to complete 22 minutes of track time, finally joining the circuit after the session’s second red flag.
The first stoppage was brought about by Adrian Sutil, who knocked the front-left suspension off his Force India when he hit the wall at Turn 7.
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Having looked very ragged for much of the session, it was little surprise to see Kamui Kobayashi then managing to damage the two right-hand corners of his Sauber when he hit the wall at Turn 4. Shortly after running resumed, d’Ambrosio managed a near carbon-copy smash in his Virgin Racing entry.
At the pointy end of the timesheets, Fernando Alonso posted the quickest sector times in the first and last sectors of the lap to post a 1:15.107, three-tenths quicker than second-placed Vettel.
Paul di Resta raised eyebrows by going sixth-fastest in his Force India, one spot ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull.
After finishing the first practice session in the top-three, Mercedes GP wallowed near the bottom of the timesheets as they fine-tuned their set-up with very heavy fuel loads. Nico Rosberg was 19th-fastest, one spot ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher.
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2011 Canadian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:
Driver | Team | Time | Laps | ||
1. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | 1:15.107 | 34 |
2. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 0.369 | 29 |
3. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | + 0.494 | 33 |
4. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | + 0.870 | 26 |
5. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | + 0.882 | 25 |
6. | Paul di Resta | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 0.982 | 34 |
7. | Mark Webber | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 0.995 | 28 |
8. | Vitaly Petrov | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 1.217 | 32 |
9. | Nick Heidfeld | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 1.315 | 32 |
10. | Rubens Barrichello | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 1.580 | 28 |
11. | Adrian Sutil | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 1.798 | 16 |
12. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 1.834 | 39 |
13. | Sébastien Buemi | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | + 1.944 | 32 |
14. | Jaime Alguersuari | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | + 2.577 | 34 |
15. | Kamui Kobayashi | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 2.650 | 20 |
16. | Jarno Trulli | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | + 3.363 | 33 |
17. | Heikki Kovalainen | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | + 3.375 | 38 |
18. | Pedro de la Rosa | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 3.429 | 14 |
19. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 3.494 | 38 |
20. | Michael Schumacher | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 4.102 | 28 |
21. | Timo Glock | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 4.703 | 25 |
22. | Vitantonio Liuzzi | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 5.177 | 31 |
23. | Narain Karthikeyan | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 5.204 | 38 |
24. | Jérôme d’Ambrosio | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 5.815 | 26 |
[Images via Formula1.com and Sutton Images]
Richard Bailey
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