Canadian Grand Prix: Second Practice

After a quiet first session, World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton showed his hand in the second free practice session of the day by taking P1 on the time sheets. He ended the dry session over a quarter of a second faster than Robert Kubica, who had his second P2 of the day. The BMWs seem to have recovered somewhat after two races off the pace, and seem to be right back in the thick of things with the Ferraris and McLarens. It looks very close between the top 3 teams, and should make for a fascinating qualifying day tomorrow.

The big news for the Tifosi though will be the sight of Felipe Massa's car grinding to a halt on out on the circuit with what could have been gearbox problems. It didn't look good for the Brazilian, and we will have to see whether he will end up incurring a penalty. Certainly some headaches for the Ferrari engineers.

The Red Bull and Williams cars again looked like the best of the rest, although Mark Webber almost trashed his car in the dying minutes of the session with a spectacular spin. The gravel trap did its job though, and he was able to continue without any damage. It was a poor session for Renault, with Fernando Alonso looking out of sorts. He had a shocker of a race here last year, and any anxieties about that performance won't have been helped with a couple of spins in the session, one of which ended in him stalling the car and needing to hitch a lift back to the pits.

Sebastien Vettel yet again impressed for Toro Rosso, while Toyota had a marginally better session this time out despite a big spin for Glock. The Hondas failed to improve however, and again looked pretty horrible all session long. Button in particular seems to be struggling to find a good setup on the Montreal circuit. The only man he was able to beat was Nelson Piquet Jnr, who again looked completely abject and devoid of any confidence whatsoever. He really is having a torrid time for Renault so far this season.

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.752 42 laps
02 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.023 41 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.093 39 laps
04 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:16.331 36 laps
05 F. Massa Ferrari 1:16.413 27 laps
06 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.589 43 laps
07 M. Webber Red Bull 1:16.604 39 laps
08 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.767 37 laps
09 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.019 43 laps
10 J. Trulli Toyota 1:17.068 46 laps
11 K. Nakajima Williams 1:17.242 37 laps
12 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:17.334 31 laps
13 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.462 39 laps
14 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.508 39 laps
15 T. Glock Toyota 1:17.549 31 laps
16 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.559 38 laps
17 F. Alonso Renault 1:17.644 30 laps
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:17.813 37 laps
19 J. Button Honda 1:17.842 39 laps
20 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:18.076 17 laps