Hamilton back on top in FP2

Mercedes dominance returns to form in second session

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are back on top of the time sheets as Fridays’ free practice day has come to an end. Hamilton’s fastest lap at 1:16.118 is the fastest lap in Montreal this year, whilst teammate Nico Rosberg placed second, 0.175 back on Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso, the morning sessions fastest man, was bumped down to fifth place when Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen posted faster laps for third and fourth.

Ferrari will be pleased with the performance of Raikkonen after he struggled with the car throughout the morning session.

Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi got the crowd fired up to start the afternoon practice session and bring some life to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Having vacated his seat in FP1 to allow Alexander Rossi a driver, Kobayashi was going into this session having not driven in Montreal since the 2012 season. In a completely new car to that from two years’ ago, Kobayashi threw his CT05 into turn two with a little too much speed causing the car to do a full spin, much to the delight of the grandstand in front of him.

Kobayashi’s car came to stop mere inches from the barrier and without any damage, he was able to drive away and continue his practice session. Caterham’s second driver, Marcus Ericsson, was not so lucky when he was forced to pull the car over at Turn 5 with an unidentified problem. Ericsson had completed 13 laps at the time he stopped.

Lewis Hamilton quickly set the pace in FP2 with teammate Rosberg right behind. The Mercedes pair were able to top Fernando Alonso, who managed third fastest time at the 30 minute mark of the session. Hamilton had completed 17 laps at the halfway point of the session though, whilst Rosberg lagged with just 14.

Jules Bianchi, having crashed his car in the morning practice session, had put up just three slow laps at the halfway mark; 16 seconds off the pace of those at the top of the time sheets as the Marussia team struggled to return Bianchi’s car to racing form. With just 25 minutes, Bianchi had still not added to that tally and he would not appear again for the afternoon session.

Whilst the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren looked poised on longer stints this afternoon and qualifying setup, Sauber, Lotus and Caterham in particular looked to be struggling for grip and having to push a continued focus on balancing the cars in preparation for tomorrow’s final free practice and subsequent qualifying.

Lotus would finish the second practice with both drivers’ times out of the top ten; Grosjean placed eleventh whilst Maldonado sat in fifteenth. Lotus’ closest rival when it comes to the Constructors’ Championship, Williams, had a very productive afternoon with Massa and Bottas finishing alongside each other in sixth and seventh respectively with both drivers completing thirty plus laps.

Combining for 81 laps in total and the two fastest times of free practice two, Mercedes look on form to continue their dominance of pole position when it comes to tomorrows’ qualifying session.

Free Practice Three for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2014 starts tomorrow, Saturday June 7th, at 10:00 local time.