10/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole practice session, the air temperature is 19 degrees C, while the track temperature is 28 degrees. It is bright and sunny.
Kimi Raikkonen was the pace-setter yesterday, other than a minor spin at the start of FP! Barely putting a wheel wrong all day, which is more than can be said of his rivals.
Lock-ups and spins abounded as drivers struggled for grips on a track that is forever green with tyres and tyre pressures that they insist are not doing the job.
As ever, there were problems for the McLaren duo, Alonso suffering a hydraulics issue in FP1 and Vandoorne an MGU-H problem in the second session.
There were problems for Red Bull also, with Ricciardo losing track time with an engine issue in the morning and Verstappen stopping on track in the second session.
Nonetheless, Verstappen was the only driver in touch with the Ferraris and Mercedes, the Dutch teenage just 0.453sd off the pace.
Though Toto Wolff insists Mercedes is now the underdog, both Hamilton and Bottas looked strong yesterday, the Briton quickest in the morning session. However, as in Monaco, and previous weekend, while Ferrari can turn it on from the get go, the silver cars need to laps in which to get fully up to speed.
Though low on grip, degradation was low, and while the Red Bull duo never tried the ultrasofts, Bottas set his best time on the softs. Bottas was another who didn't use the softest compound.
Grosjean was his usual happy self, the Frenchman encountering all manner of problems and ensuring his team, and the rest of the world, knew about it.
Temperatures are up on yesterday, which will improve grip levels, but they are expected to fall again tomorrow.
The lights go green and, as was the case yesterday, the Ferraris are first out, followed by Grosjean, Magnussen and Alonso. On his out lap, Vettel waves to the crowd at the hairpin.
All are on softs thus far, bar Ricciardo who is on the ultras. Indeed, the Australian posts the first time of the day, a 1:21.907. Next time around the Red Bull driver improves to 16.784.
Palmer goes second with an 18.875, the Briton on the red-banded supersofts.
Vettel is back out on the ultras as Ricciardo improves to 15.278.
The German opens his account with a 14.533 as teammate Raikkonen heads out.
No sooner has Raikkonen posted a 17.824 to go third than he is demoted by a whole heap of drivers who have gone out at the same time, in no time at all the Finn is down in ninth.
As Vettel improves to 13.766, Bottas goes third (15.010), ahead of Ocon, Hulkenberg and Perez. Bottas is on the supers.
A 14.895 sees Hamilton go second on the supersofts, only to be demoted by Sainz and then Ricciardo.
Raikkonen improves to 14.120 to go second, 0.354s off his teammate's pace.
Quickest in all three sectors, Vettel raises the bar to 13.015 as Hamilton takes second with a 13.986.
20 minutes in to the session, and there are 9 drivers still to post a time. Among them Verstappen and the Haas and McLaren duos.
"Can we go back to tomorrow's setting?" asks Raikkonen, before adding, "To tomorrow, sorry, to yesterday's?" We've all been there Kimi.
Bottas posts 13.905 to go third, both the Mercedes drivers on the supers.
Ricciardo, on the ultras, goes fourth with a 14.090.
As Verstappen goes third (13.763), Sainz improves to seventh and Toro Rosso teammate Kvyat to eighth.
"Nobody running soft in this session, but it could be a good race tyre: yesterday it showed similar performance to supersoft," says Pirelli.
Sainz improves to fifth as countryman Alonso digs deep and slots into sixth with a 14.018. Vandoorne is currently 12th on 14.785.
Magnussen is the latest driver to miss the final chicane - he won't be the last.
Raikkonen improves from seventh to second, just 0.002s off his teammate's pace. Like Vettel he is on a brand new set of ultras.
"Not a big difference in track temperature compared to this time yesterday," admits Pirelli, "but much less wind, which makes conditions more stable."
The Ferrari due break into the 1:12s barrier, Vettel posting 12.704 and Raikkonen 12.864, both quicker than anything we saw yesterday.
The German subsequently improves to 12.572. Clearly very confident, he gives the fans at T2 a wave.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Montreal, here.
With 18 minutes remaining and the drivers about to begin their qualifying sims, Red Bull are still running aero tests, the teenager sporting flo-vis on his front wing.
"It feels awful coming out of the chicane," complains Palmer of the Renault.
On fresh ultras, Hamilton improves to 13.078 but remains 0.506s off Vettel's pace. Next time around he posts 12.926, now 0.354s shy of Vettel.
A big, big save at T9 for Bottas at T9, the Finn doing a superb job of controlling a car that appeared determined to bite the wall.
Ocon improves to seventh with a 13.687, teammate Perez currently sixteenth.
"In terms of your sectors, it's still sector three," Hamilton is advised where he's losing out, "but performance is looking okay."
Massa is very unhappy at losing out to Vandoorne at the hairpin, not so much by the Belgian's antics but the fact he was released into traffic. "The car behind, you need to tell me what they are doing," snaps the Williams driver.
A 13.772 sees Hulkenberg go eighth, thereby demoting Alonso to ninth.
Moments later Sainz posts 13.667 to go seventh.
Another improvement from Hulkenberg, this time the German posting 13.526 to go sixth.
Verstappen does very well to keep his rear end out of the wall after riding the kerbs in the final corner. Indeed, the Red Bull driver improves to fourth (12.965) in the process.
Such is their confidence, the Ferrari duo are the only drivers not on track with two minutes remaining.
A moment for Hamilton at the first chicane, though not quite as spectacular as his teammate's save earlier.
The session ends with Vettel quickest, ahead of Raikkonen, Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Massa, Ricciardo, Ocon and Sainz.
Kvyat is eleventh, ahead of Alonso, Perez, Grosjean, Palmer, Vandoorne, Magnussen, Stroll, Ericsson and Wehrlein.