Vettel goes quickest in Canada

Both Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were the first on track as the light went green. But they came straight back into the pits after an installation lap.

Trying to make up for the time lost in the morning, Lucas di Grassi immediately resumed his work and was the first to post a time on the board. He was quickly demoted to sixth as more drivers completed their first flying laps.

Nico Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov set the early pace, until the frontrunners joined the action. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton then resumed their domination. Nico Rosberg challenged them early in the session, setting a fastest 1’17’’277 lap time while his teammate Michael Schumacher moved up to third place.

Meanwhile, Vettel and Webber consistently improved and were up in P2 and P4 at the end of their first run. With one hour remaining, Rosberg was still leading from Vettel, Hamilton, Webber and Schumacher.

Having switched to the option tyre, Vettel managed to up the pace and went quickest – with a fastest 1’16’’877 – with just over thirty minutes remaining. His teammate Webber and both Ferraris of Alonso and Massa also improved. Alonso moved up to P2 while Massa got up to P5.

There was no major improvement in the final part of the session, as the teams evaluated the option tyres. Many drivers complained of graining after some laps.

The session ended with Sebastian Vettel at the top of the field. Alonso was second quickest, 0.086 slower than the Red Bull driver. Rosberg, Webber and Massa completed the top five. Lewis Hamilton was only seventh fastest, sandwiched between Adrian Sutil and Robert Kubica.

His teammate Jenson Button was eleventh fastest.

Jarno Trulli missed most part of the session because of an electrical problem.