Prac One: Button seizes early advantage

Jenson Button set the early pace as F1 returned to Montreal, clocking a 1:18.127 to finish Practice One ahead of Michael Schumacher

With the drivers complaining of an extremely dirty track, it wasn't until halfway through the session that the big-named drivers finally ventured out. And then the battle was on to see which of the two McLaren drivers would dominate.

Eventually it was Button who emerged ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, however, the McLaren 1-2 did not last as Schumacher nosed in, taking second place, 0.158s off the pace.

Nico Rosberg was fourth quickest ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica, Fernando Alonso and Tonio Liuzzi.

Report: The first practice session for the Canadian GP got underway under dark skies and with the track temperature sitting at 23'C. The circuit was dry after Thursday's rain as the drivers ventured out for their installation laps, taking a first look at some of the newly resurfaced areas including the Senna S, Turn 6 and the hairpin.

With the drivers complaining of how dirty the track is, Heikki Kovalainen liking it to "a rally Finland stage", they all headed back into the pits, waiting for someone else to start the cleaning process. Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi got the ball rolling when, more than 30 minutes into the session, he clocked a 1:28.723. Jaime Alguersuari joined the action with the two trading fastest lap times while Nico Hulkenberg took third ahead of Bruno Senna and Sebastien Buemi.

Halfway through the session, Hulkenberg led with a 1:21.107, ahead of Kobayashi, Rubens Barrichello, Buemi, Alguersuari, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, Senna and Karun Chandhok. But they weren't only the top nine - they were also the only nine to have set times.

Reigning World Champ Jenson Button was the first of the big boys to venture out, sparking a run from his rivals. Michael Schumacher immediately went quickest with a 1:19.814 before he was beaten by Lewis Hamilton by 0.106s. Button claimed fourth place, Mark Webber eighth, Nico Rosberg fourth and then Button took over the P1 slot, making it a McLaren 1-2. Felipe Massa put his Ferrari into fourth place while Fernando Alonso could only manage 13th.

Hamilton returned to the front of the pack, breaking into the 1:18s while Schumacher went second and then lost it to Button. Alonso climbed to fourth place while Sebastian Vettel was down in 14th place. The Red Bull racer, though, improved to eighth on his next lap as slowly but surely the top four teams took over the top eight positions on the timesheets.

With thirty minutes remaining in the session, Button claimed the P1 slot off Hamilton, Rosberg had moved to third ahead of Schumacher and Massa fifth in front of Alonso. Vettel claimed another place and Robert Kubica took eighth place while Webber had a close encounter with the Wall of Champions.

Alonso, another to take a peek at the Wall, improved to third place but opted to check out the grass on his next lap. Vitaly Petrov was another to decide that the grass needed mowing. His Renault team-mate Kubica climbed to sixth place while Adrian Sutil broke into the top eight.

Lucas di Grassi brought out the first yellow flags of the session as his Virgin broke down out on track and Pedro de la Rosa almost collected a Force India as his spun at the hairpin. Schumacher moved up to second place, 0.158s behind Button.

The final five minutes saw Vettel improve to seventh place, Liuzzi to eighth, Schumacher ran wide, Vettel almost kissed the Wall and then ran straight on at his next attempt, Rosberg went fourth and Vettel fifth.

Times:

01. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.127 23 laps
02. Schumacher Mercedes 1:18.285 + 0.158 19 laps
03. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.352 + 0.225 19 laps
04. Rosberg Mercedes 1:18.356 + 0.229 23 laps
05. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:18.549 + 0.422 27 laps
06. Kubica Renault 1:18.662 + 0.535 19 laps
07. Alonso Ferrari 1:18.726 + 0.599 21 laps
08. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:19.097 + 0.970 25 laps
09. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:19.282 + 1.155 31 laps
10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:19.313 + 1.186 19 laps
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:19.373 + 1.246 12 laps
12. Massa Ferrari 1:19.511 + 1.384 21 laps
13. Petrov Renault 1:19.549 + 1.422 24 laps
14. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:19.609 + 1.482 26 laps
15. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:20.186 + 2.059 33 laps
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.320 + 2.193 27 laps
17. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:20.584 + 2.457 21 laps
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.823 + 2.696 28 laps
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:21.869 + 3.742 24 laps
20. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:21.977 + 3.850 27 laps
21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:22.543 + 4.416 12 laps
22. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:22.701 + 4.574 28 laps
23. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:22.713 + 4.586 20 laps
24. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 4 laps

Source: Planet-F1