Aston Martin lead the way in mixed FP2 conditions
Despite damp conditions spilling down on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, it was a much more active, yet still inconclusive, FP2 session in Canada, with Aston Martin proving to be the strongest contender in the rare moment of clear weather.
Having missed out on the bulk of running during this morning’s FP1 session, it was no surprise to see a long queue of cars building in the pitlane.
As they sat awaiting the green light, what was once a sprinkle of rain intensified making the early minutes on the slick tyres very tentative.
With Carlos Sainz reporting the track was “too wet for mediums”, Ferrari was the first team to send their second driver out on the intermediate tyre.
Before his program had started, Charles Leclerc was noted by the stewards for “tyre usage”, seeing the team calling him back in immediately after sending their driver out before the track was declared wet.
He joined the rest of the grid back in the pitlane with action picking back up at the 50-minute mark.
From there, it was a messy opening stint for the 20 drivers.
Heavy rain at Turn 10 resulted in a domino effect of cars taking to the run-off area, led by the home racer Lance Stroll.
Turn 4 also claimed its fair share of victims, with Kevin Magnussen sliding into the low-lying puddle.
As for the timing sheets, it was an early advantage for Aston Martin, with both drivers occupying the top two times.
Finding a rare bout of temperature in his soft tyres, Fernando Alonso promoted himself over seven-tenths clear of Leclerc.
Stroll soon rejoined him, sitting a decent six-tenths back on the Spaniard’s 1:15.810s benchmark lap.
Traffic became a huge problem across the board, with drivers growing hesitant to move off the dry line.
The Ferrari drivers were at the heart of many impeding incidents, angering the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Alonso who picked up on the team’s slowing tactics at the penultimate corner.
Sainz was soon given a taste of his own medicine, being held up by a very wide Mercedes at Turn 2, the same corner that forced Daniel Ricciardo to abort his lap due to traffic.
On the timing sheets, Hamilton’s teammate managed to split the Aston Martins, with George Russell one of the last drivers to improve before the weather worsened.
All cars returned to the pitlane, joining Max Verstappen who had earlier returned to his garage with his car supposedly on fire.
Red Bull mechanics got to work on his RB20, bringing out the heavy-duty drill after declaring that the #1’s session was over to discover an Energy Recovery System fault.
With 20 minutes remaining in FP2, Esteban Ocon was the first driver to make the switch to the intermediate tyre.
Even with weather-appropriate tyres, Ocon ran wide and struggled at Turn 10.
Charles Leclerc did too, putting on an unintentional display of donuts for the dedicated crowd as all drivers rejoined the session on inters.
Expectedly, there was no further movement on the timing sheets due to the weather and compound change, leaving Ricciardo in a positive-looking P5, just over nine-tenths back on the benchmark.
It wasn’t an as positive stationary position for the second running Australian, with Oscar Piastri having set his fastest time on the medium compound.
He found his MCL38 in P16, ahead of Lando Norris who not only held the slowest time but had also been noted for failing to follow the Race Directors’ instructions after running in hot at the final corner.
The session ended with the Aston Martins in the lead, still split by the #63, with Fernando Alonso claiming to quickest time of the day being a 1:15.810s.
The drivers completed their practice starts on the grid before returning to the comfort of their warm and dry garages for the evening.
Tomorrow’s running will kick off with Free Practice at 2:30 AM (AEST), with an exciting qualifying session following shortly after at 6:00 AM (AEST).
2024 Canadian Grand Prix Schedule:
Saturday June 8th:
FP1: 3:30 – 4:30
FP2: 7:00 – 8:00
Sunday June 9th:
FP3: 2:30 – 3:30
Qualifying: 6:00 – 7:00
Monday June 10th:
Race: 4:00
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