Di Resta tops FP1 in a wet start to Canadian GP weekend

Paul di Resta posted the fastest lap of Free Practice 1 for the Canadian Grand Prix this morning in a rain filled session. His lap, an impressive 1:21.020 was over a half a second clear of second placed Jenson Button and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

The fastest time was set on the Pirelli Medium compound tyres.

Despite having a full hour and a half practice session which saw track action from the green light, di Resta’s fastest lap came on his final lap of practice. The fastest laps of the entire session were set in the final ten minutes once the track had finally had time to dry out from this morning’s rain fall and the drivers had the opportunity to run their slick compounds.

Alonso, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Perez, Vettel and Webber all made the top ten by the time the chequered flag was waved. Though unusual to see such high profile names towards the back end of the top ten, it is somewhat common during Free Practice 1 and 2 as teams tend to focus on car setup for the weekend as opposed to all out speed.

During a somewhat unexciting free practice session, there were glimmers of interest on track to keep the wet and cold crowd entertained. American racing driver Alexander Rossi was given his first free practice run opportunity by Caterham F1 team; it is the first time we have seen a North American Formula 1 racer on a North American track since Scott Speed was with Toro Rosso.

Pastor Maldonado had an eventful end to his free practice run – with just over four minutes to go in the session Maldonado put his car in the wall, ending up facing backwards on track without a front wing or nose cone. The session was yellow flagged for a couple of minutes, allowing just enough time for drivers still on track to post their fast laps.

Earlier in the session, lap times were relegated to the mid 1:27’s as drivers struggled with grip on track thanks to light rain, and a lot of standing water. Pirelli Full Wet Compounds were needed to disperse the water, as well as provide the cars with as much grip as possible.

Thirty minutes into the session, Raikkonen led the way, with Mark Webber just behind. With the track drying, Jean-Eric Vergne moved the pack into the mid 1:26’s, before the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton fronted the pack with 1:24’s.

Sebastian Vettel had an uneventful free practice, posting a handful of quick laps but never really challenging for the lead at any given point.

Jean-Eric Vergne was the first man to put slick tyres on with just 22 minutes left in Free Practice 1. He was also the first driver to run the prototype compound tyre which Pirelli brought to Canada for testing, though he did not complete a single timed lap on the tyre.

Full Free Practice 1 timings can be found below. Free Practice 2 for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2013 starts this afternoon, Friday June 27th at 14:00 local time.