Sebastian Vettel responded to the dominant performances of McLaren and Mercedes to top the second practice session for the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver was the first driver to break into the 1:16s – just under a tenth ahead of the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.
Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes, after sitting top for most of the session, with championship leader Mark Webber in fourth.
The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button faired worse, with the former in seventh and the latter only managing eleventh. However, given the pace of the MP4-25 in practice one it would be foolish to write off the team’s chances.
Adrian Sutil continued Force India’s good form in sixth, with team-mate Tonio Liuzzi building on the pace he showed in first practice to set the tenth fastest time.
Meanwhile, Luca Di Grassi recovered from his first practice problems to complete thirty laps. However, the Virgin driver was still rooted at the bottom of the times – 4.7 seconds adrift of Vettel.
With around thirty minutes to go in the session it soon became clear that the drivers were struggling to come to terms with the massive graining experienced while running Bridgestone’s option tyres. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has been resurfaced for this weekend, and this may be the root of the cause. However, with the compound remaining the fastest for qualifying, this will ultimately handicap the plans of the top ten qualifiers for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:16.877 32 2. Alonso Ferrari 1:16.963 + 0.086 35 3. Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.151 + 0.274 34 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:17.273 + 0.396 33 5. Massa Ferrari 1:17.401 + 0.524 33 6. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:17.415 + 0.538 28 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.522 + 0.645 29 8. Kubica Renault 1:17.529 + 0.652 36 9. Schumacher Mercedes 1:17.688 + 0.811 34 10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:17.903 + 1.026 35 11. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.961 + 1.084 33 12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:18.385 + 1.508 27 13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:18.447 + 1.570 41 14. Petrov Renault 1:18.582 + 1.705 40 15. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.658 + 1.781 34 16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:19.142 + 2.265 38 17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:19.168 + 2.291 32 18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:19.274 + 2.397 41 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:19.969 + 3.092 35 20. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:20.879 + 4.002 29 21. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:21.097 + 4.220 31 22. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:21.346 + 4.469 11 23. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:21.488 + 4.611 25 24. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:21.577 + 4.700 30
