Practice One: Hamilton edges Vettel in Montreal

Lewis Hamilton had the measure of his rivals in Friday's first practice in Montreal as the McLaren driver set the pace despite using the slower tyres...

With dark threatening clouds overhead, the Lotus drivers got proceedings underway as Kimi Raikkonen posted a 1:20.347, which is almost immediately topped by his team-mate Romain Grosjean. The duo traded blows for several laps before Nico Rosberg put an end to their intra-team tussle.

Lewis Hamilton was the next to lead the way as the McLaren driver posted a 1:16.080 while Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Massa slotted in behind him.

Hamilton's time seemed to be unbeatable as his rivals tried but just couldn't match it. Sebastian Vettel came the closest, 0.063 down before Practice One was red flagged.

With 38 minutes left on the clock, Heikki Kovalainen sideswiped the wall at Turn 9. The impact, which was on the right side of his Caterham, left a significant amount of debris on the track. The Finn, though, was unhurt.

The session restarted roughly ten minutes later with Rosberg the first into the 1:15s. But his reign was short-lived as Hamilton posted a 1:15.564.

A near miss for Bruno Senna who was almost collected by a Red Bull as the Williams driver just didn't have the pace through the corner as Vettel came storming by. The Brazilian was seen waving his fist with the stewards announcing they will investigate the incident after practice.

The final five minutes saw several drivers swap to the red-ringed super soft Pirelli tyres. However, even though the Red Bull duo made the move neither Sebastian Vettel nor Mark Webber were able to challenge Hamilton with Vettel slotting into second place, 0.118s down.

The session ended with Hamilton first ahead of Vettel, Rosberg and Alonso.

Times

01 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:15.564 30 laps
02 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:15.682 0.118 29 laps
03 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.782 0.218 30 laps
04 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:15.842 0.278 34 laps
05 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:15.897 0.333 28 laps
06 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:15.986 0.422 29 laps
07 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:16.000 0.436 31 laps
08 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:16.249 0.685 32 laps
09 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:16.264 0.700 28 laps
10 Jenson Button McLaren 1:16.347 0.783 12 laps
11 Paul di Resta Force India 1:16.460 0.896 32 laps
12 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:16.619 1.055 17 laps
13 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:16.859 1.295 26 laps
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:16.890 1.326 36 laps
15 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:17.014 1.450 42 laps
16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:17.352 1.788 28 laps
17 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:17.580 2.016 31 laps
18 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:17.935 2.371 23 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:18.177 2.613 16 laps
20 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:18.182 2.618 26 laps
21 Bruno Senna Williams 1:18.762 3.198 36 laps
22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:19.354 3.790 23 laps
23 Timo Glock Marussia 1:20.004 4.440 21 laps
24 Charles Pic Marussia 1:20.067 4.503 23 laps

Source: Planet-F1