Two-time champion Lewis Hamilton posted the quickest lap in both practices at the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday.
Hamilton, who has three pole positions in Montreal to go with his victories in 2007 and 2010, had a top lap of 1 minute, 15.564 seconds in the morning run on the 4.3km Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The McLaren Mercedes driver bettered that to 1:15.259 in the afternoon.
Fernando Alonso, the Formula One series leader, was second best at 1:15.313 with his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa third. Sebastain Vettel was fourth for Red Bull with Paul Di Resta fifth for Force India and Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber sixth.
Hamilton’s teammate, Jenson Button, last year’s race winner, got in only 12 laps in the morning before developing gear box trouble and did not get out again until late in the second session, but managed to place ninth.
Teams were to have one more practice early yesterday before qualifying. The race is today.
Only a few raindrops fell during each session despite forecasts of thundershowers, so teams got in a full day’s work.
However, Button turned the car over to mechanics in his garage earlier than expected.
Race stewards issued a reprimand to Vettel for causing a collision with Bruno Senna’s Williams on the final chicane before the start-finish line. And Sergio Perez of Sauber was fined 1,200 euros (US$1,500) for speeding in pit lane.
The slippery track saw Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen slide into a wall at turn eight in the morning, scattering debris across the track and forcing a 12-minute delay. The Finnish driver was unhurt. The Renault-powered car was badly damaged on the right side, but was fixed in time to return partway through the afternoon run.
There were no signs of the protesters who tried to disrupt a Grand Prix charity cocktail event on Thursday that led to several arrests. The city has seen nightly demonstrations for several weeks by students and others opposed to university tuition hikes.
Instead, the mischief came from animals that live near the track, which is in an island park across from the downtown area. A fox ran onto the asphalt, but managed to duck under a barrier in time to avoid any cars. Later, a squirrel jumped a barrier ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s onrushing Lotus and a groundhog made it across the track safely.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS