Lack of pace from WilliamsF1 in final practice

With Alex Wurz in third and Mark Webber in seventh position after completing Friday practice for the Canadian Grand Prix the WilliamsF1 team were encouraged by the results. Now the final practice session would get under way at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit. For Nico Rosberg this session was vital after his lack of track time due to gearbox difficulties on Friday. Both of the Super Aguri and MF1 cars would take to the track as the session started. Sato would return to the pit after only one lap. He was joined by Monteiro and Albers leaving just Montagny top set the first time of the session, 1m:23.041.

Franck would improve his time with a 1m:21.952 followed by a 1m:21.688. He was alone on the track but was joined by the Red Bull of David Coulthard and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. Montagny would pit while Coulthard would move to the top of the times with a 1m:18.627. Trulli was now in second with a 1m:18.715. Sato, Liuzzi, and Barrichello had joined Coulthard out on the circuit. Ralf Schumacher was also out as Trulli moved ahead of Coulthard with a 1m:17.503. Coulthard had improved his time with a 1m:17.750. Speed and Massa had joined the other drivers as Liuzzi moved into third, 1m:20.240, and Rubens was fourth, 1m:20.575.

Ralf would move ahead of the Honda with a 1m:20.422. Coulthard had pitted as the first of the McLaren's, Kimi Raikkonen, came out. Kimi was joined by Montoya. Barrichello was now in third and Speed fourth. Nico would come out early in the session no doubt looking to get more track time. Liuzzi would move ahead of his Torro Rosso team-mate and into fourth, 1m:19.138. But on his first lap Kimi would move to the top of the times with a 1m:17.341. Trulli had pitted.

Montoya was now in fifth, 1m:18.767, and Massa eighth. Both Klien and Button had taken to the circuit. They were joined by Fisichella. Speed was now in fourth followed by Barrichello and Montoya. Liuzzi was now in seventh. Klien's first lap would see him in eighth, 1m:18.922. Kimi would improve his time, 1m:17.018, and then pit. Klien was now in fifth as Nico was to have a moment but was able to continue. Nico was down in fourteenth with a time of 1m:20.763. Klien would improve his time again now moving into second, 1m:17.317 as Trulli returned to the track.

Michael Schumacher and Villeneuve would take to the circuit. Fisichella was down in eleventh, 1m:19.269. Button was in ninth while Nico improved his time to now be in thirteenth with a 1m:19.430. Both Heidfeld and Mark Webber had come out leaving just Alonso to make an appearance in the session. Fisichella would move up to be in fourth, 1m:17.647. Michael was now in third, 1m:17.431. Nico was now in twelfth, 1m:19.141.

Alonso was now out as Heidfeld's first lap would see him move into fourth, 1m:17.317. So with just over thirty minutes of the session remaining the top ten was Raikkonen followed by Klien, Michael, Heidfeld, Trulli, Fisichella, Coulthard, Speed, Barrichello, and Montoya. Mark was in twenty first with a 1m:21.538. The second BMW Sauber of Villeneuve would move to the top of the times with a 1m:16.992. Mark was now in nineteenth while Button was down in twenty first and in the pits. Alonso was in eleventh but would improve to be in sixth, 1m:17.490.

In somewhat of a surprise Massa would go fastest with 1m:16.890. Nico was now in sixteenth and Mark nineteenth. Both of the WilliamsF1 drivers were back in their pits leaving a handful of drivers on the track. Alonso was now in sixth ahead of Michael and Barrichello who was in eighth. Fisichella was now in ninth. Alonso was able to improve his time, 1m:17.147, to now be in fifth. Liuzzi was able to put in a quick lap that saw him move into second, 1m:16.928. Raikkonen was back out on the track, joined by team-mate Montoya. Juan Pablo was down the order in fourteenth. Kimi was on a very quick lap, fastest in the first two sectors. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:15.902 to move ahead of Massa.

Both Nico and Mark were back out on the circuit. Montoya would join Kimi at the top of the times moving into second with lap time of 1m:15.975. Both of the McLaren's were around a second faster than third placed Massa. On his first timed lap Nico would move into an excellent third place, 1m:16.829. Just as quickly Mark would take this spot from his team-mate with a time of 1m:16.710. So we had two McLaren's followed by two WilliamsF1's. Massa was now in fifth and Liuzzi sixth. Mark would pit as Massa would come back out. Villeneuve was seventh ahead of Alonso. Renault team-mate Fisichella would put in a quick time to move ahead of Mark and into third, 1m:16.601.

Nico would pit as Heidfeld moved into fifth splitting the two WilliamsF1 drivers. Button and Barrichello were down the order in thirteenth and fourteenth. With fifteen minutes remaining Massa would move into fourth seeing Mark and Nico now in fifth and seventh. Only six drivers were out on the track, one of those been Villeneuve who would miss the final chicane. Alonso was down in tenth. Trulli and Ralf Schumacher were down in sixteenth and nineteenth. Things were not looking good for either of the Japanese manufacturer teams. Nico was back out with just under ten minutes remaining.

Speed would set a time that would see him move into fifth, 1m:16.493. Mark would join Nico as Speed pitted. There was now just six minutes left in the session. Alonso was in eleventh and Michael thirteenth. Montoya was back out as Massa was to have a new rear wing fitted on his car. There would be a rush of drivers looking to set a "qualifying" time in the closing minutes of the session. The first big improver was Michael who moved into second, 1m:15.959. Coulthard would move into ninth as Heidfeld went fastest with a time of 1m:15.616.

But Nick's time was beaten by Alonso with a 1m:15.455. The second BMW Sauber of Villeneuve was now in second with a 1m:15.554. Mark and Nico were now down in thirteenth and fifteenth. How quickly things can change. Fisichella was now in second, 1m:15.521, just 0.066 seconds behind his team-mate. Albers would go off at Turn three. With the session coming to an end it would be the two Renault's followed by the two BMW Sauber's. The top ten was Alonso, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello, Massa, and Speed.