• Canadian Grand Prix - FP1
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Rosberg fastest as Vettel crashes

ESPNF1 Staff
June 10, 2011
Sebastian Vettel ends his first practice session in the 'Wall of Champions' © Sutton Images
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Nico Rosberg clocked the fastest time during first practice for the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday, in a session that saw Sebastian Vettel add his name to the illustrious list of drivers to crash at Montreal's 'Wall of Champions'.

The 90-minute session took place in low grip conditions with several drivers missing chicanes and struggling for rear-end grip under acceleration and braking.

Vettel had completed just eight laps when he made a mistake at the final chicane and buried the right-front corner of his Red Bull in the barrier. He lost the car under braking, clipped the sizable kerbs on the apex and crashed into the barriers on the outside. Several big names have crashed at the corner in the past, including Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button to name but three champions. The accident caused a red flag and will leave his team with work to do to get the car ready for FP2.

The unique challenge of the Circuit Gilles Villenueve resulted in a topsy-turvy timesheet which should not be taken as a true reflection of the cars' pace. For starters, the drivers used a mix of medium and soft tyres during the session, with the super-soft - the set most likely to be used to take pole position this weekend - left untouched.

Vettel's crash meant he had to sit out most of the session and Lewis Hamilton also had limited mileage due to problem that saw the whole of steering column removed midway through the session. When he returned he had no read-out on his steering wheel which would have hampered him to some extent.

But that's not to take away from Rosberg's fastest lap, which was 0.548 up on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in second and just under 0.5 seconds off Hamilton's pole position time from last year. He was also complaining of a burning feeling in the cockpit, which meant he had to cut his final run short. His Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher was third fastest ahead of the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa. Jenson Button was fifth with Hamilton sixth on a circuit where McLaren have been successful in recent years.

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 Sports Media Ltd.
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