Fernando Alonso set the pace for Ferrari in the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday, in an incident-filled 90 minutes of action in Montreal.
The Spanish driver moved to the top of the times halfway through the session and stayed there until the end with a best of 1m15.107s, outpacing Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel by nearly four tenths of a second. Ferrari enjoyed a very positive start to the weekend, with Felipe Massa finishing in this position ahead of the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
Vettel showed missing the majority of first session was not a big problem for him, the German setting the fastest time of the weekend at the start of the session. His lap of 1m15.476s was over a tenth of a second quicker than the best set by Rosberg in the opening session.
Alonso outpaced the World Champion with 48 minutes to go, the Spaniard setting the benchmark with a la of 1m15.205s using the soft tires. A new best time was set by the Spaniard with eight minutes to go, when he went for his first run of super -softs.
Second practice was also red-flagged with some 30 minutes remaining when Kamui Kobayashi crashed into the wall at the first chicane when he ran too high over the curbs. His Sauber impacted straight into the wall and the Japanese could not return to the track.
Just minutes after the restart, Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio lost control of his car at the same spot and also crashed heavily against the wall, causing another red flag. The Belgian rookie emerged from the car without assistance, but his car was heavily damaged. Hamilton suffered a puncture right after that, probably caused by debris from D'Ambrosio's crash.
Adrian Sutil was the protagonist of another incident during the session when he crashed against the wall coming out of Turn 7. His Force India's left-front suspension was damaged and the German had to miss the last 35 minutes of action. The session saw several other small incidents as drivers outbraked themselves throughout the 90 minutes, with off-course excursions especially at the last chicane and at Turns 8-9.
Pedro de la Rosa, who is replacing Sergio Perez this weekend after the Mexican felt unwell following opening practice, managed to hit the track following the stoppage caused by his teammate Kobayashi, with some 20 minutes left, but his first run was interrupted by the second red flag. The Spaniard, still wearing McLaren overalls, eventually completed 14 laps and finished 18th quickest.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m15.107s 34
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m15.476s + 0.369 29
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m15.601s + 0.494 33
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.977s + 0.870 26
5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.989s + 0.882 25
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m16.089s + 0.982 34
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m16.102s + 0.995 28
8. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m16.324s + 1.217 32
9. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m16.422s + 1.315 32
10. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m16.687s + 1.580 28
11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m16.905s + 1.798 16
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m16.941s + 1.834 39
13. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.051s + 1.944 32
14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.684s + 2.577 34
15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m17.757s + 2.650 20
16. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m18.470s + 3.363 33
17. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m18.482s + 3.375 38
18. Pedro de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1m18.536s + 3.429 14
19. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m18.601s + 3.494 38
20. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m19.209s + 4.102 28
21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m19.810s + 4.703 25
22. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m20.284s + 5.177 31
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m20.311s + 5.204 38
24. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m20.922s + 5.815 26
All Timing Unofficial