Practice 1: Button heads Mercedes top four

Jenson Button started his Canadian Grand Prix weekend by going fastest in the first free practice

Jun.11 (YallaF1.com) McLaren Mercedes’ Jenson Button was quickest of a quartet of Mercedes powered drivers who hogged the top four spots on the timing screens at the end of the first free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Michael Schumacher ended the session second fastest

It took a while for the on track action to get going in the first session of the weekend on Ile de Notre Dame. After the first half hour the first serious laps were posted. Button set his fastest lap just short of the hour mark on a track which was very dirty.

Lotus technical chief Mike Gascoyne tweeted on Twitter: “SAlso track has been resurfaced. Looks like the new tarmac drains very badly so will be a problem if it rains. Both drivers saying track is unbelievably dirty, Heikki [Kovalainen] saying it’s like a rally Finland stage.”

Second quickest, at the end of the 90 minutes, was Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) with his younger team mate Nico Rosberg fourth after a very late lap on soft tyres. Splitting the Silver Arrows was Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) making it a top four all Mercedes affair.

Mercedes is believed to have run a more refined version of its F-duct system this weekend. “When it works properly it is a very, very powerful tool — and we are persevering with it,” said team boss Ross Brawn.

Fernando Alonso leaves the pit lane during practice

Next up were two Renault powered drivers with Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) fractionally quicker than Robert Kubica (Renault).

Championship leader Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) was 14th on the timing screens. Team boss Christian Horner said, “It is a circuit that should play to the advantage of the Mercedes-powered teams and the teams with the F-duct — and we have neither!”

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) was seventh fastest, almost a second quicker than team mate Felipe Massa who was 12th best in the morning session.

Driving a different VJM03 chassis in Montreal was Force India’s Vitanatonio Liuzzi who posted the eight best time with team mate Adrian Sutil ending 11th on the timing sheets.

Fastest rookie, of several who have never raced in Montreal, was Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) was fastest of the Cosworth powered brigade, setting the ninth best time with team mate Rubens Barrichello 10th best.

Free Practice 1 – 11 June