Hamilton starts Canadian GP practice on top
ByAutoSport
Published 10/06/2016 at 16:15 GMT
Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Nico Rosberg to the fastest time in first practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, as Felipe Massa crashed.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Reigning world champion Hamilton clocked a 1m14.755s to finish 0.331 seconds clear of Rosberg, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel a tenth-and-a-half further back in third.
Hamilton's best lap was set on the super-soft tyres, of which he only has two sets for this weekend, while Rosberg's leading time came on the ultra-soft.
Hamilton appeared to have the measure of Rosberg throughout the session, despite choosing not to run the ultra-soft at any point.
Massa brought out the red flag when he crashed at Turn 1 - the same corner where he famously collided with Sergio Perez during the 2014 race - but walked away unscathed.
The Brazilian said on team radio he thought he had a problem, losing the rear when he closed the DRS before he spun out of control into the barrier.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth quickest, eight tenths off the pace, with his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo 1.2s adrift in 11th.
Kimi Raikkonen was fifth, four tenths slower than his team-mate Vettel. Both Ferrari drivers are running a turbo update this weekend.
Valtteri Bottas was sixth, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jr and Sergio Perez. Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.
Jenson Button was 11th, managing just eight laps and ending his session early when he returned to the garage reporting on team radio that it felt like "we're stuck in a temperature limiter".
Romain Grosjean was 12th ahead of Massa, Daniil Kvyat and Esteban Gutierrez, the latter feeling much better after missing his track engagements on Thursday due to illness.
Felipe Nasr was the leading Sauber in 17th, with his team and fellow Ferrari engine customer Haas not running the Scuderia's turbo update this weekend.
It was a difficult session for Renault with Kevin Magnussen 20th, 3.654s off the pace, and his team-mate Jolyon Palmer propping up the timesheets in 22nd.
Traffic was a problem at the final chicane with Bottas and Hamilton forced to take to the run-off to avoid a slow-moving Verstappen and Alonso respectively.
PRACTICE TIMES
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