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Hamilton Dominates Canada Friday Practice

MONTREAL, Canada- For the last two seasons here at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Lewis Hamilton has achieved maximum results, with one race win, two poles and an unexpected retirement in the event, but on Friday afternoon, the Briton dominated both practices in preparation for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Canada in Montreal.

Hamilton set the opening session with the best time of 1:15:664 on soft tires with 20 minutes to go in the session, but the action got off as it always does here, with a delay of over 13 minutes as Heikki Kovalainen smashed into the wall at turn nine with his Caterham. Nico Rosberg and his Mercedes was chasing Hamilton throughout the session, but it was another German, defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who was second best with a recorded 1:15:682. The disappointments of the session were the two Lotus drivers, Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who finished 14 th and 15 th , respectively. Vettel and Williams’s driver Bruno Senna came under an investigation after Vettel took a shortcut over the final chicane, while passing the Brazilian.

Hamilton continued his dominance in the afternoon with a faster time just one tenths faster at a 1:15:564, while the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso was second quickest, showing the fans that the car is slowly coming around. Felipe Massa was right behind his teammate, as both recorded a 1:15:313 and a 1:15:410 times, respectively. It was another disappointing session for Grosjean and Raikkonen, as both finished in the same positions that they did in the morning session. Senna became one of the most famous casualties as the Brazilian struck the famous “Champions Wall” on the final chicane, leading to the main straightaway to the start/finish line. It caused the session to be red flagged and just like Kovalainen in the opening session, took another 13 minutes to clean up. Senna’s pride was hurt, but Senna himself was not. Leading to the end of the session, many incidents occurred, as Timo Glock and Alonso both spun, Mark Webber, Paul Di Resta, Pedro De La Rosa, Alonso and Hamilton strayed off the course without any damage to their cars.

One thing that was lucky for all the drivers involved was the rain that held throughout the morning and early afternoon before a deluge came around four in the afternoon, which could be heard even in the press tent during the day’s final interviews.

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