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The Circuit
Gilles Villeneuve was surrounded by water, but as
practice started on Friday morning, the track surface also
had a thin and slippery coating thanks to light rain
that eventually left the track to dry towards the end of
the first ninety minutes of action of the Canadian Grand
Prix weekend.
In the Friday morning session, Felipe Massa took his
F2008 to the top of the time sheet, while Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen was fifth. In
the second ninety minutes, which were held on an
entirely dry track, the Finn was third and the Brazilian
fifth. It was not all plain sailing, as Massa ended up
having to park his car at the side of the track at the
exit to the hairpin, one of the most popular viewing
spots on this picturesque circuit. The cause of the
problem has yet to be identified.
As for Kimi, his
sector times showed he might well have been higher up
the order but for the odd bit of traffic he encountered.
In the end, it was Lewis Hamilton, who took his maiden
Formula 1 win here last year, who emerged quickest for McLaren-Mercedes,
waiting until the final minutes of the session to knock
Robert Kubica's BMW-Sauber down to second place. Behind
Kimi came fellow countryman Heikki Kovalainen in the
second McLaren-Mercedes and completing the top six
behind Massa was the BMW-Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
The damp start to the day just added to the usual
question marks at this circuit, where the track surface
is in a constant state of evolution from "green" to "rubbered-in"
over the course of the next two days. With more rain
forecast, it will be a difficult task to predict how
much grip will be on offer with each passing session. As
usual, there is one more hour of free practice this morning, before Qualifying, which takes place an hour
earlier than usual at 13h00 local time to better suit
European TV audiences.
Not everything went smoothly for Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro during the first day of practice for the
Canadian Grand Prix. A technical problem left Felipe's
F2008 parked at the side of the track in the final part
of the afternoon session, preventing him from completing
his test programme. No problems for Kimi though, who
completed all the work on his race engineer's job sheet.
Stefano
Domenicali: "This morning the track stayed damp for
a good part of the session, while this afternoon we had
a problem with Felipe, the cause of which we have yet to
ascertain. However, we gathered a good amount
of data to analyse for the rest of the weekend. As usual
on a Friday, the results have to be viewed with caution
as we don't know what fuel loads other drivers were
running. As for ourselves, we worked to prepare for
Sunday's race and are reasonably happy with our
performance level."
Felipe Massa: "My car seemed to suffer some sort
of blackout: gradually all the systems shut down and I
had to stop at the side of the track. Of course, that's
not good but it's better to have a problem in free
practice than in qualifying or, worse still, in the
race! Even if we did not get through everything we
wanted to do, this problem won't cost us anything. From
what we could understand today, it is very close between
us and our main rivals. As usual on a Friday in
Montreal, the track was very dirty and will therefore
improve bit by bit as the surface gets rubbered in. I
hope I can have a great qualifying and claim a good
position on the grid."
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am quite satisfied with this
first day of testing. We were always quick. The car
turned out to be well balanced right from the morning
and I think we can aim for the top spots over the rest
of the weekend. From what we have seen today, there is
not much difference in the performance of the two types
of Bridgestone tyre we have available to us, but the
track conditions are bound to change over the next
couple of days. At this track, it is very important to
have the brakes sorted in the race and we also worked on
this."
Luca Baldisserri: "A shame about the technical
problem on Felipe's car, the cause of which we still
need to understand. It prevented him from completing all
the work we had scheduled for these three hours of free
practice. But in any case, we have enough information to
be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and the
race. It's too early to say where we are in the pecking
order, but we will definitely be competitive."
Free practice
- First session
F. Massa: 1st 1.17.553 14 laps chassis 267;
K. Raikkonen: 5th 1.18.292 12 laps chassis 270;
Weather: air 18 °C, track 18/19 °C, overcast, a few drops of
rain, wet track drying gradually.
Free Practice - Second session
K. Raikkonen: 3rd 1.16.093 39 laps chassis 270;
F. Massa: 5th 1.16.413 27 laps chassis 267;
Weather: air temperature 20/22 °C, track temperature23/26
°C, overcast, dry track.
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