Ferrari led the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton hit the wall.
Hamilton, who was quickest in the first practice session, headed the early times in the second 90 minutes of running before he lost control of his car on the apex kerb at turn nine. He slid wide and smacked the barrier with his right-rear wheel, and despite returning to the pits at low speed his car required a new rear end.That prevented Hamilton from doing both a low-fuel qualifying simulation and a high-fuel run at the end of practice, depriving Mercedes of useful data. His team mate Valtteri Bottas lowered his best time to a 1’12.311, but was beaten by both the Ferraris.
There was little to choose between the two SF90s, but Charles Leclerc had a slightly better run than Sebastian Vettel through the second and third sectors – and a considerably better run than anyone else – which put him on top with a 1’12.177. Vettel was less than a tenth of a second away from his team mate.
Hamilton wasn’t the only driver to touch a barrier. Max Verstappen brushed the ‘Wall of Champions’ when he caught his team mate Pierre Gasly at the end of a run and had to pit. The Red Bulls ended the session well off the pace, languishing in 12th and 13th.
Carlos Sainz Jnr was first among those to capitalise, putting his McLaren an excellent fourth, within four-tenths of a second of Hamilton. That pushed Kevin Magnussen’s Haas down to fifth, followed by Hamilton.
Racing Point looked in better shape as both Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll reached the top 10. Stroll, however, is under investigation for an incident involving Romain Grosjean – the Racing Point driver squeezed into the Haas as the pair approached the final chicane.
The two RP01s were separated by the Renault drivers, Daniel Ricciardo a tenth of a second faster than Nico Hulkenberg. But for once it wasn’t just the midfield that was close – the entire top 10 was covered by less than a second.
The Williams pair brought up the rear as usual. However George Russell was within two-tenths of a second of Antonio Giovinazzi, who missed much of the start of the session following the repairs to his car in the first practice session.
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Second practice visual gaps
Charles Leclerc – 1’12.177
+0.074 Sebastian Vettel – 1’12.251
+0.134 Valtteri Bottas – 1’12.311
+0.376 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’12.553
+0.758 Kevin Magnussen – 1’12.935
+0.761 Lewis Hamilton – 1’12.938
+0.826 Sergio Perez – 1’13.003
+0.839 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’13.016
+0.991 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’13.168
+0.994 Lance Stroll – 1’13.171
+1.072 Lando Norris – 1’13.249
+1.168 Pierre Gasly – 1’13.345
+1.211 Max Verstappen – 1’13.388
+1.259 Alexander Albon – 1’13.436
+1.344 Daniil Kvyat – 1’13.521
+1.365 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’13.542
+1.421 Romain Grosjean – 1’13.598
+2.693 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’14.870
+2.859 George Russell – 1’15.036
+3.110 Robert Kubica – 1’15.287
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2019 Canadian Grand Prix
- Ferrari lose bid to have Vettel’s Canadian GP penalty reviewed
- Ferrari confirm no appeal on Vettel penalty
- 2019 Canadian Grand Prix Star Performers
- “I believe in the project”: Verstappen responds to Marko’s fears he could leave
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix
David BR (@david-br)
7th June 2019, 20:38
So much for all the premature speculation from the first session.
tyngdekraft (@tyngdekraft)
7th June 2019, 20:48
I’m sure we’ll see a McLaren two tenths from a Mercedes tomorrow.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
7th June 2019, 22:56
Two tenths of a mile, maybe.
Philip (@philipgb)
7th June 2019, 23:09
Quick bit of maths and that would mean within 5-6 seconds of Mercedes given the speed they average around the track
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
8th June 2019, 14:33
Did you mean 4 tenths in front of Hamilton maybe?
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
7th June 2019, 20:46
Please don’t give me hope.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
7th June 2019, 23:06
Depends on what you’re hoping for. If it’s Lewis on pole again you’ll probably be rewarded.
Xcm
7th June 2019, 20:47
That’s as close as max will get to being a champion in F1…
BOSS
7th June 2019, 20:48
Come on Lewis
Adam (@rocketpanda)
7th June 2019, 21:12
While encouraging, I really would be shocked if both Ferraris are ahead of both Mercedes. Stranger things have happened, hopefully Canada will be a crazy race.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
7th June 2019, 21:29
That’s the best headline of the season so far!
Fantomius (@liko41)
7th June 2019, 21:42
@jblank
Ferrari’s f@nboys, always making themselves known
Milansson (@milansson)
7th June 2019, 21:57
oh, come on @liko41, let us be happy for a moment :)
Fantomius (@liko41)
7th June 2019, 23:59
Oh.
Happy to see it was a lighthearted joke, lol! :)
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
8th June 2019, 0:04
Lol, I’m not a Ferrari fan you chode. Despite what you think people can be anti-Merc winning every flippin’ race and not be Ferrari fans.
NeverElectric
8th June 2019, 7:30
@jblank If your concern was Mercedes, you wouldn’t be celebrating – because Bottas didn’t crash, and he also wins races in the Mercedes.
Your main blinker is your pathological hatred of Hamilton, try as you might to conceal it under some imaginary lies about disliking Mercedes etc.
Alex
8th June 2019, 8:34
That escalated quick!
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
8th June 2019, 15:53
Sorry, you’re wrong. If you look at my comments I am constantly commenting on my dislike of the Merc team. So sorry Dr. Freud, but your analysis is incorrect.
Francorchamps (@francorchamps17)
7th June 2019, 22:09
I’m tired of this Ferrari domination
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
7th June 2019, 22:32
Hilarious
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
7th June 2019, 22:37
It’s hard to blame Hamilton, at least we can see that the Mercedes guys are also just human beings. Bottas had also had an oil pressure problem, though somewhere I’ve read that he had run the old engine spec.
By the way, what a Friday from Carlos Sainz. The McLaren guys, the drivers as well as mechanics, seem to be coming together in an interesting synergy. According to Sainz, the new parts on the car have worked really well and this may be extremely encouraging for the team’s in-season development.
David
7th June 2019, 22:41
Anyone seen the long run pace? I heard McLaren looked competitive, surely not!
reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
7th June 2019, 23:11
From bbc: https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/48563520
‘But it was Bottas who set the pace in race time. His long run on the soft was just over 0.6secs quicker on average than Sainz’
reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
7th June 2019, 23:19
I miss edit button. The same article says: ‘Sainz’s strong progress continued on his race-simulation run, which was considerably quicker than Vettel’s on the same soft tyre…’
bosyber (@bosyber)
8th June 2019, 5:54
Thanks, interesting stuff. Looking good for McLaren then, like in Bahrain.
I do recall though that in Monaco the Ferrari’s were also well off the pace on the practice long runs, while in the first stint of the race, they were closer (2nd race stint doesn’t really count as data, I guess) @reh1v2-0
reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
8th June 2019, 12:41
You’re welcome. Yeah, I also expect them to be a little closer to Mercedes on Sunday, but seems to me that they still have some work to do. @bosyber
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
7th June 2019, 22:49
That’s two weekends running now where Gasly has been unnecessarily slow. Maybe now he’s actually impeded his team mate, Red Bull might choose to pull their fingers out?
bull mello (@bullmello)
7th June 2019, 22:58
Didn’t watch the practice sessions, but decent time by Sainz.
budchekov (@budchekov)
8th June 2019, 0:19
Heads up Los Angeles fans (and maybe elsewhere on the West Coast)
Looks like in LA the race will be on KDOC (channel 19 on Spectrum), they’ve been advertising the race all week and I wondered why.
Turns out that it was meant to be on KABC 7 but they’re broadcasting the West Hollywood Pride event at 11 AM instead.
Here’s hoping it’s not a cluster **** and we get to see the race!
Nitzo (@webtel)
8th June 2019, 7:35
This track could signal nice comeback by both Renault and Racing point (thanks to Merc spec 2 ??) in the WCC. It could be track specific.
The midfield has looked very close this year although STR and McLaren have made the most of it while Renault RP have looked slightly off colour in recent races. If RBR arent competitive enough here, then it is going to offer some very crucial points for the midfield teams.
I am hoping for closely fought F1.5 race with plenty of DRS aided overtakes on the main straight.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
8th June 2019, 14:36
I won’t get too carried away just yet but isn’t Sainz and McLaren doing well lately?
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
8th June 2019, 16:00
Yes they are, very good sign for them.