Alonso puts Ferrari on top of FP2 in Montreal

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has finished the second free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix at the top of the time sheets; a practice session which saw the top twelve drivers separated by just under a second and second placed Lewis Hamilton just .012 seconds back.

Romain Grosjean, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel all posted times good enough to get within a half second of Alonso during a dry second practice, allowing the drivers and teams alike to get a better understanding of the slick tyre compounds’ grip levels for the weekend ahead.

After a wet morning session, the rain stayed away for almost the entire 90 minute afternoon practice. Dry track conditions meant that teams could start work on testing the new Pirelli prototype compound that will be introduced at Silverstone in two weeks’ time, a new compound which features a Kevlar belt at the rear in attempt to stop delamination.

Alonso completed the most laps this afternoon, achieving 48 in total through the 90 minute session. His fastest lap was set mid-way into his run on the super-soft Pirelli compound. Hamilton’s fastest lap also came on the super-soft compound, proving that the tyre is the quickest for the race.

Sebastian Vettel, who finished in seventh as the session came to an end, was unable to complete a ‘perfect’ fast lap on the super-soft tyre, suggesting that we are yet to see the full potential of the Red Bull car in Montreal.

Adrian Sutil was able to place his Force India within the top ten; a 1:15.396 was good enough for eighth, whilst teammate (and leader of Free Practice 1) Paul di Resta, was a further half second off the pace. Di Resta finished the afternoon in P13. McLaren’s Jenson Button was ninth, 0.6 seconds off the front runners pace, whilst Ricciardo found himself in the top ten, capturing the final position available.

Kimi Raikkonen finished eleventh this afternoon after complaining to the team that there was a problem with his brakes. The team are investigating with aim to correct the mechanical malfunction in time for tomorrow mornings third practice.

Although Nico Hulkenberg had a new set of brakes installed on his car midway into the session, Sauber had a slow and disappointing day managing only P17 and P18. Williams also had a mediocre afternoon outing; Maldonado pushed for fourteenth whilst teammate Bottas was sixteenth, just marginally ahead of the Sauber’s.

The practice session also seemed to show that Marussia have once more taken another step towards mid-field competition – Jules Bianchi was able to complete a flying lap of 1:17.070, good enough for nineteenth place, but more importantly just a little behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg who was only 0.141 ahead. The time also marked Marussia’s pace at 2.252 seconds off the front running Alonso, and a few tenths quicker than the rival Caterham car of Charles Pic.

Full Free Practice 1 timings can be found below. Free Practice 3 for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2013 starts tomorrow, Saturday June 28th at 10:00 local time.