Nico Rosberg highlighted Mercedes GP’s position as a dark horse for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, topping the times in the opening practice session on Friday.
But the big news of the first day of action was Sebastian Vettel’s crash, the Red Bull driver starting his weekend on the back foot after a costly driving mistake.
The session had to be red-flagged with around 33 minutes to go when Vettel crashed into the “Wall of Champions” after his car jumped over the kerb at the final corner.
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Video: Nico Rosberg Fastest in First Practice While Vettel Crashes Out at Montreal
The right side of the Red Bull car was heavily damaged and the world champion, who had managed just eight laps before that, was unable to return to action.
Rosberg, meanwhile, enjoyed a trouble-free day to finish ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and his own Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher.
Felipe Massa was fourth fastest, with Jenson Button completing the top five ahead of McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Rubens Barrichello, Paul di Resta, Nick Heidfeld and Force India test driver Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten, underlining the slightly back-to-front nature of the times. Mark Webber was the highest placed Red Bull in 12th, 2.229 off Rosberg and with 30 laps under his belt.
A truer reflection of the pecking order should emerge in the second session as drivers bolt on a set of super-soft tyres for the first time this weekend and track grip increases. ESPN F1
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:15.6 2 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:16.1 3 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:16.5 4 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:16.7 5 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:16.7 6 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:16.8 7 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:17.0 8 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:17.3 9 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:17.4 10 14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 01:17.5 11 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:17.7 12 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:17.8 13 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:18.5 14 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:18.5 15 18 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 01:18.6 16 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:18.9 17 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:18.9 18 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 01:19.3 19 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 01:19.4 20 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:19.6 21 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:19.8 22 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 01:20.0 23 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:20.5 24 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:21.0
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