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With the
Williams team looking for a major improvement in form for the weekend of the
2010 Canadian Grand Prix, the first hour and a half Friday practice would
commence. After a break of a year Formula One would be returning to the
Montreal circuit with the Williams team finally running with their new front
wing after been forced to not use it in Turkey. Bridgestone would bring
their medium and super soft compounds to this circuit on a circuit that is
hard on the cars in respect of tyres and especially brakes.
 It would be the Torro Rosso in his Torro Rosso who would be first pout
followed by a rush of drivers all coming out for their installation laps.
Nico Hulkenberg would come out early while Rubens would be one of the last
to take to the track. The Williams cars were carrying an increased presence
from Randstad with bigger logos on the cars between the front wheels and the
side pods. Nico would return to the track joining both Lotus cars. All three
would pit leaving the track empty but Nico would return completing a slow
lap and again returning to his pit. Rubens was back out but he too would pit but like Nico
would come back out joining the Virgin cars.
Rubens would pit seeing just Glock and Rosberg on the track. Several drivers
continued their installation laps with Nico pitting while Glock was back
out. With an hour and ten minutes remaining Sutil was out on the track
joining Glock and Rosberg. Rosberg had gone through the pit lane and after
another lap pitted. Sutil was now the only driver on the circuit and would
also pit. Many of the drivers were out of their cars while Williams'
Patrick Head was out on the pit wall checking up on things. Next out was
Kobayashi in his Sauber joined by Rosberg. Next out was Alguersuari with the
drivers all on the harder tyre for this session. Kobayashi would set a time
of 1m:28.723 as Rosberg pitted.
With half an hour of the session completed Kobayashi would improve with a
1m:27.536 while Alguersuari would go ahead with a 1m:25.265. Senna was next
out while Alguersuari set a 1m:23.415. Kobayashi would set a 1m:24.720 as
Senna took to the grass at the chicane. Nico was out on the track as
Kobayashi set a 1m:22.891 to go fastest. Senna set a 1m:28.528, some 5.6
seconds off the pace. Chandhok would join team-mate Senna while Frank Williams
was in the Williams pit looking on. Nico's first lap was a 1m:24.179 to move
into third. Senna had improved with a 1m:26.405, joined by Kobayashi who set a time of 1m:22.581. Buemi was now fifth,
1m:26.646, as Rubens took to the track.
Nico would improve with a 1m:24.108 but remained in third. Alguersuari set a
1m:22.649 but remained second. Buemi would take to the grass at Turn eight
but was able to continue. Kobayashi was down to a 1m:21.713 with Nico now
second with a time of 1m:22.608. Alguersuari was now third from Buemi and
Rubens in sixth with a 1m:25.021. Nico was now fastest with a 1m:21.588 to
go fastest but Kobayashi would also improve to go fastest with a 1m:21.311.
Buemi was now third while Rubens was still sixth but on his next lap he
would move up to second with a 1m:21.580. Kobayashi was now fastest from
Rubens, Nico, Buemi, Alguersuari, Trulli, Senna, and Chandhok.
With forty six minutes remaining only eight drivers had set a time as Nico
moved to the top of the times with a 1m:21.107. Kobayashi would pit while
the Lotus cars were in seventh and eighth with Trulli leading Kovalainen.
Rubens was now fastest with a 1m:20.276. while Nico would pit. Button and
Petrov would take to the track as De la Rosa moved into fifth, 1m:21.348.
Trulli was up to sixth, 1m:22.543, as Button started his first flying lap.
Rubens had pitted while we would see more drivers come out including Webber,
Hamilton, Schumacher, Massa, Liuzzi, and Rosberg. Button was up to sixth with a time
of 1m:22.449, as Vettel took to the track. Webber was now sixth with a
1m:22.107 but was passed by De la Rosa. Massa was now seventh, 1m:22.073,
while Button was up to second, 1m:20.683. Schumacher was now fastest with a
1m:19.814 but Hamilton would move ahead with a 1m:19.708.
 Button's next lap would see him fastest with a 1m:19.315 while Rosberg moved
into fifth. Rubens had pitted currently in fourth while Nico had dropped to
seventh. Rosberg was fourth from De la Rosa, Nico, Liuzzi, Buemi, and
Webber. Petrov would take to the grass as Massa move up to fourth,
1m:20.123. Schumacher was again fastest with a 1m:19.173 from Button with a
1m:19.315. But Hamilton would move into the 1m:18's with a
1m:18.571. Button would improve with a 1m:18.628 to be second. Alonso was
now fourth from Massa and Rubens. Webber would move into seventh from De la
Rosa. Rosberg was now in third, 1m:19.064, from Schumacher, Alonso, Massa,
Vettel, Rubens, Webber, and Liuzzi in tenth. Button was again fastest with a
time of 1m:18.127 while both Mercedes cars had pitted. Rubens had dropped to
tenth and Nico fourteenth, while Kubica and Liuzzi were in eighth and tenth.
Alonso would improve with a 1m:18.885 to be third as Nico returned to the
track with just over thirty minutes remaining. Like others Alonso would also
take to the grass as Nico improved on his first lap back to be tenth with a
1m:19.989. Rubens was now thirteenth, 1m:20.276, as Kubica moved up to
sixth, 1m:19.553. Sutil was in ninth from Vettel and Nico. Webber was down
in eleventh as Nico put in an improved lap to move up to sixth
with a lap time of 1m:19.498. Kubica was up to fourth, 1m:18.984 as Vettel
improved to be seventh, 1m:19.339. Sutil was now eighth from Nico, Massa,
Webber, and Petrov in twelfth. Nico would pit as Rubens came back out.
Webber was up to tenth, 1m:19.609, as Alonso returned to the circuit. Rubens
would run wide at the hairpin while Nico would also return. Kubica was still
fourth as Kobayashi ran over the kerb at the final turn.
Rosberg and Schumacher were both back out, currently in fifth and sixth.
Without setting a time Di Grassi would stop out on the circuit. Nico was
ninth and Rubens fifteenth. Both McLarens were still in their pits as Nico
would again improve to be seventh with a time of 1m:19.282 to be just behind
Schumacher. But Schumacher would move up to third, 1m:18.592 while team-mate
Rosberg would pit. Nico would also come in while Rubens was
now fifteenth, 1m:20.276. Schumacher's next lap would see him second,
1m:18.285, as Button took to the track. Schumacher had pitted as Hamilton
also left the pit lane. Tenth placed Vettel was back out while Rubens would
improve with a 1m:19.313 to improve to be in ninth, just behind Nico.
Hamilton was seen having a moment as he bounced over the run-off at the
first corner. Webber was out on the track currently in thirteenth.
Nico would return to the track with nine minutes left in the session. The
order was Button from Schumacher, Hamilton, Kubica, Alonso, Rosberg, Liuzzi,
Nico, Rubens, Vettel, Sutil, Massa, Webber, and Petrov in fourteenth.
Hamilton would pit while Nico would continue to circulate around the track
as we had the top three all back out on the track. Rubens would also come
out of the pits with just over five minutes remaining. The majority of the
field were all out on the track as Vettel moved into seventh, 1m:19.066.
Rubens would pit as the final minutes counted down. Rubens would stop at the
end of the pit lane seeing the Williams mechanics run down the pit lane to push Rubens car back. Vettel
would improve to now be sixth, 1m:18.798, while Webber was down in
thirteenth. Vettel would run wide at the hairpin as drivers started to pit
as the session ended. Rosberg's last lap would see him fourth, 1m:18.356,
while Vettel would find more time to be fifth, 1m:18.549.
A positive start to the weekend for the Williams team with Nico and Rubens
in ninth and tenth, with both of their times 1.1 seconds off the pace. With
both Frank Williams and Patrick Head at the circuit one would hope that both
drivers could show an improved performance. In an interview for
autosport.com Rubens spoke of the developments with the FW32. Rubens said:
"I hope it is a step forward, but you don't really know until you try it in practice.
We have some new things here but we just need to see how it translates to the track.
The reason we didn't so well in Istanbul was that people went forward and we didn't. We brought new stuff and didn't
progress so we need to wait and see this weekend." |
