Hamilton fastest, then crashes in rain

Canadian Grand Prix

Montreal 

Lewis Hamilton topped the times and then crashed into the barriers in his Mercedes car in heavy rain that curtailed Friday's second practice for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.

The defending world champion and current series leader was unhurt and walked away after aquaplaning into the barriers at the hairpin at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve when a downpour midway through the 90 minutes' action brought it to a halt.

Two 30-year-old Briton, a two-time world champion, had topped the times in Friday morning's opening free practice session ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and the pair were more than 1.5 seconds clear of the field.

In his accident, Hamilton lost control and was unable to stop his car sliding into the wall at the tight and tricky track that has a record for accidents and incidents.

"It has still been a good day so I am pretty relaxed," said Hamilton. "It wasn't my call to go out. Not necessarily, no. It was just like being on ice! It was so slippery.

"We collectively don't think it was the best call to go out, but at the end of the day it didn't affect our running."

Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe admitted: "It didn't quite end the way we wanted it to. We went out to do practice race starts, a normal part of our P2 programme. Unfortunately, the worsened quicker than expected and caught Lewis out."

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff added: "I think he just aquaplaned. The front wing is gone, but hopefully no more.

"He was pretty quick. He's fastest on the time-sheets, but I won't read too much into it. It's just one of those days, one of those Fridays when it is difficult to get a lap together."

Hamilton was fastest ahead of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the time of the accident with Rosberg back in fourth.

"The car's feeling good out there, really good," he said of his Mercedes. "But Ferrari have picked up the pace with their engine, which will be interesting to see tomorrow. I think we are still in good form."

Earlier, Hamilton had survived a part-spin on his way to clocking the fastest time in Friday morning's opening free practice.

HAMILTON ON POLE

Defending champion and series leader Lewis Hamilton bounced back to his best yesterday to claim pole position ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg for today’s Canadian Grand Prix.

The two-time champion recovered from two days of erratic form in practice to produce a smooth and fast demonstration of single lap speed and a best lap in one minute and 14.393 seconds.

That lifted him 0.309 seconds clear of Rosberg with in third and fourth Finnish duo Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari and Valtteri Bottas of Williams.

“That was a rubbish end to qualifying” said Rosberg.

On a day of surprises, two world champions failed to progress from Q1 – Briton Jenson Button of McLaren, who suffered an engine failure in the morning, and Raikkonen's teammate Sebastian Vettel, who suffered electronic problems and wound up in 16th place.  

Two weeks on from Mercedes’ Monaco fiasco, Hamilton’s lap was nearly half a second faster than last year’s pole lap by Rosberg at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, one of the 30-year-old Briton’s favourite tracks where he is seeking a fourth win.

His pole success was his sixth in seven races this year, the 44th of his career and his fourth in Canada where he won his maiden Formula One race in 2007.

He needs only one more pole to level with four-time champion Vettel in the record books.

Romain Grosjean was fifth fastest for Lotus ahead of his team-mate Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg of Force India and the two Red Bulls of Russian Daniil Kvyat and Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

Mexican Sergio Perez was 10th quickest for Force India.

In dry conditions under a blue sky, Q1 began with the two Mercedes men dicing for fastest time as Hamilton, at last, appeared to be finding a rhythm, albeit with a few scary moments.