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On an overcast
day the Williams Martini team would commence their 2014 Canadian Grand Prix
weekend with the opening Friday practice session. For this race Pirelli had
brought their soft and super soft tyres for this race. The ninety minute
session would get underway with Felipe Massa first out for Williams. He
would be followed by further drivers as they came out for their installation
laps. Felipe would return to his pit and shortly after Valtteri Bottas would
leave the pit lane for his installation lap. Last out would be Ricciardo
while it should be remembered that the teams had an extra set of soft tyres
for the first thirty minutes of the session. Valtteri would also pit leaving
Maldonado the only driver on the track. He would pit leaving the track empty
as the teams completed their system checks.
Wit ten minutes of the session completed their was still no activity but we
would see Magnussen coming out joined by Gutierrez and Grosjean. Magnussen
would set a 1m:23.249 for the first time. More drivers would come out
including Maldonado, Chilton, and Rosberg. Button and Rossi, driving for
Caterham, would also come out. The track was now starting to get quite busy with the teams looking to
get use out of the extra set of tyres. A 1m:21.061 from Magnussen with
Grosjean second, 1m:22.504. The track was very dusty as Maldonado went third
and Chilton fourth. Times would start to come down with a 1m:19.820 from
Magnussen as Perez moved into third. Valtteri would set a 1m:23.897 to be sixth. Team-mate
Felipe was also out on the track and would set a 1m:19.575 to be fastest.
Magnussen was now second followed by Rosberg, Button, Maldonado, and
Grosjean in sixth. Hulkenberg would spin at Turn eight with the only driver
now in the pit lane being Gutierrez. A 1m:19.709 from Magnussen with Button
setting a 1m:19.958. Hamilton would show how quick the Mercedes is setting a
1m:18.997 to be quickest. Hulkenberg was now second with a 1m:19.347 and Felipe now third.
But this would become fourth as Rosberg moved into second with a 1m:19.034.
Alonso would move into third, 1m:19.137, with Vergne now fourth and
Hulkenberg fifth. Felipe was back in his pit currently eighth. Valtteri had
improved to be one place ahead of his teammate in seventh with a time of 1m:19.543. Valtteri would
pit with the pair dropping to ninth and tenth as Perez and Vettel moved into
seventh and eighth. Hamilton and Rosberg would improve their times with
Hamilton having set a 1m:18.088 and Rosberg a 1m:18.138 to be nearly half a
second ahead of third placed Alonso. With thirty minutes of the session completed the tarck
would completely empty as everyone came in to swap tyres, returning the
extra set of soft tyres back to Pirelli.
Valtteri and Felipe were now tenth and eleventh while slowest were the
Caterham's of Rossi and Ericsson. Kvyat would be first to return with forty
eight minutes remaining. Magnussen would follow him with Kvyat sliding off
at Turn eight with the track still very dusty. More drivers would come out
including Button and Maldonado. Magnussen was now in eighth with a time of
1m:19.326. Rossi and Bianchi would also leave the pit lane as both McLaren's
continued to improve with Magnussen now third, 1m:18.518, and Button fifth,
1m:18.715. Maldonado would go off at Turn ten with Vergne now sixth followed
by Ricciardo. Magnussen would pit while fro Williams both drivers were still
in their garages with thirty seven minutes remaining. The track was now quite busy as further clouds started to cover the track and
the temperatures started to come down.
Button was now third with a 1m:18.446, as Valtteri and Felipe dropped to
eleventh and twelfth. Sutil was now eighth, 1m:19.108, followed by Vettel
and Kvyat. Valtteri and Felipe were now fifteenth and sixteenth. Both
Mercedes cars were out on the track as Bianchi made contact with the wall at
Turn four. At the front Rosberg would move to the top of the times with a
1m:17.922. He would further improve with a 1m:17.705 to be three tenths
ahead of Hamilton. Alonso would split the Mercedes moving into second with a
1m:17.911. Vettel was fourth, 1m:18.131. But Hamilton would go fastest with
a 1m:17.254 with Alonso also moving forward with a 1m:17.375 to again be
second. Vettel was still fourth followed by Button, Magnussen, Vergne,
Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, and Perez in tenth.
Rosberg was fastest in sector one with twenty five minutes remaining.
Raikkonen had moved into ninth, 1m:18.846, as Rosberg completed his lap
remaining in third. Hamilton was on a quicker lap but in the final sector he
would lose time having made a mistake at Turn ten. Alonso would continue to
push going fastest with a 1m:17.238 pitting after his quick lap. Button and
Magnussen were now fifth and sixth while the Williams team would report that Felipe had a KERS issue and was out for the
rest of the session. But Valtteri would finally come back out with twenty
minutes remaining. Williams would later say that Felipe had a ERS pump
failure with the team working to fix it before the next session. Valtteri
was able to show some pace setting a 1m:18.696 on his first lap but his next
out would see him set a 1m:18.361 to be fifth ahead of Button. Rosberg and Vettel had returned to the track with Valtteri
pitting with just over ten minutes remaining.
The track was again quite busy with many drivers have off-track moments as
they struggled to come to grips with the track. Valtteri would return to the
track with five minutes remaining. As the session drew to a close Alonso
would remain fastest followed by Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Valtteri,
Button, Magnussen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, and Vergne in tenth. Felipe was
down in seventeenth having completed just seven laps. Not the start that
Felipe would hope fro but at least Valtteri has shown that the FW36 has the
pace to be near the front. |
