Pedro de la Rosa tops Montreal practice

De la Rosa and McLaren remain fastest in Montreal
Canadian GP - Second practice

As you were. Not content with dominating the first practice session in his McLaren Mercedes, Pedro de la Rosa continued where he left off dominating the second practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. As was the case in the first session, it was again Ricardo Zonta who came closest to beating the Spaniard for pace in his Toyota, but had to settle for second position just under two- tenths of a second off the ultimate pace.

With the two test drivers out-front for McLaren and Toyota respectively, Championship leader Fernando Alonso took the third position in his Renault. After sitting out the first session, Alonso put in a good number of laps in the second session, ending his day seven-tenths off a second off the fastest pace.

Underlining the pace of the MP4-20 around the 4.361 KM Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen were fourth and fifth fastest ahead of the second Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella. McLaren, Toyota and Renault are the team’s to beat again this weekend if practice pace is anything to go by.

BAR Honda will be encouraged with positions seven and eight for Jenson Button and Takuma Sato. The team are much closer to the pace this weekend than they were last time out at the European Grand Prix, although there is a three-tenths of a second gap between Button and Fisichella that they will look to close overnight.

As in the first session, Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello round out the top ten for Toyota and Ferrari while Jarno Trulli was 11th in his Toyota.

Mark Webber and nick Heidfeld were 12th and 15th respectively for BMW Williams, but it is fairly common for the Grove-based squad to show little pace early on in the Grand Prix weekend as they work on Michelin tyre evaluations.

Jacques Villeneuve piped Felipe Massa by a hundredth of a second to take 13th position in his Sauber Petronas while Michael Schumacher was just 16th fastest in the second Bridgestone-shod Ferrari. Clearly the team have more pace than this time would indicate, but one doubts they have the pace to take it to the front runners in qualification on Saturday afternoon.

Over at Red Bull Racing, it was a difficult session for all three runners. Scott Speed, making his Formula One debut today in the third car spun out of the session 25-minutes into the session and was slowest of the 23 runners in this session while race driver’s David Coulthard and Christian Klien were just 17th and 18th. Speed’s time set in session one was however enough to lift his one position ahead of Tiago Monteiro overall today.

Patrick Freisacher was 19th in his Minardi ahead of both Jordan Toyota runners. Narain Karthikeyan was 20tyh in his EJ15 and suffered a spin right at the end of the session with what looked to be overheating brakes. Christijan Albers was 21st ahead of the struggling Monteiro in the second EJ15 with Speed slowest after losing much of the session in his Red Bull Cosworth.

The message is clear for most of the teams, McLaren, Renault and Toyota are on top again as the team’s make their tyre compound decisions ahead of the third practice session of the weekend which begins tomorrow at 15.00 CET.

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Pedro de la Rosa tops Montreal practice
Canadian GP - First practice

Pedro de la Rosa is back in the third McLaren Mercedes again this weekend for the Canadian Grand Prix, topping the timesheets by two- tenths of a second from fellow test driver Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota.

McLaren dominated the session in many respects with both race drivers and de la Rosa all taking turns to head the timesheets. The final minutes saw the Spaniard put in a string of quick laps in the MP4-20 hotly pursued by Zonta.

Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest ahead of Jenson Button in the BAR Honda. After such a dismal showing at the European Grand Prix, BAR Honda seems to be back nearer the sharp end of the field this weekend in Montreal.

Michael Schumacher was fifth fastest in his Ferrari and should he win Sunday’s 70-lap Grand Prix, it would mark no less than his eighth triumph at the circuit named after another Ferrari great – Gilles Villeneuve.

Juan Pablo Montoya ended the session in sixth position in his McLaren ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the sole Renault to record a lap time in this session. Takuma Sato was eighth fastest in the second BAR Honda ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello who rounded out the top-ten for Toyota and Ferrari.



Nick Heidfeld left until the final ten minutes of the session before heading out in his BMW Williams and was 11th fastest just ahead of Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota and team-mate Mark Webber.

Felipe Massa was 14th in his Sauber Petronas just over two-tenths of a second clear of Scott Speed who made his Grand Prix debut today in the third Red Bull Cosworth. Speed did a solid job in what is a pretty unfamiliar car to him as he was the fastest of the three Red Bull runners and three-tenths clear of Jacques Villeneuve in the second Sauber.

Christian Klien and David Coulthard were 17th and 18th for Red Bull Racing ahead of Narain Karthikeyan in the Jordan Toyota. Minardi duo Patrick Friesacher and Christian Albers were next up ahead of Tiago Monteiro in the second Jordan. Championship leader Fernando Alonso completed an out lap in his Renault, but did not attempt a lap time.

Friday practice resumes at 14.00 local time, 20.00 CET.

Fuente

a ver si este fin de semana si corre Pedro, debio haber corrido en España me parece, donde fue mas rapido en las practicas, pero decidieron que corriera Montoya, a ver si esta vez si le dan la oportunidad!! venga Pedro, Go Kimi, Mclaren!!