It was a great start to the Canadian weekend for Caterham who edged Toro Rosso in Friday's practice. HRT and Marussia were slowest...
Caterham:
Heikki Kovalainen: "First I want to say thank you to the team for doing a great job and getting the car fixed and ready for most of FP2. I made a mistake on the exit of turn 9 and hit the wall, obviously doing some pretty substantial damage to the car but, thankfully, not to the chassis. As soon as we got it back to the garage the guys started work on rebuilding it so to get that job done and giving me FP2 track time was a very good achievement. Before the FP1 off the car had felt good pretty much from the first lap. In FP2 I had the same sort of positive feel from the balance and I think we look ok here - not quite as close as we were in Monaco but certainly close enough to have a good race on Sunday."
Vitaly Petrov: "I am pleased with how both sessions went today. 64 laps over FP1 and FP2 gives us a very good amount of data to work on tonight and we pretty quickly found a decent balance on both sets of tyres so I think we can keep progressing throughout the weekend. We obviously can't tell where we really are against the cars ahead as everyone was running different fuel levels and tyre compounds at different times, but I think we look pretty good here. The aim now is to keep up the positive momentum and see what happens in quali and in the race."
Toro Rosso:
Jean-Eric Vergne: "The day went smoothly, because even if there were a couple of red flags and a few drops of rain, we managed to get through all our programme, completing a good number of laps. However, at the moment, we are a bit too slow and must work hard overnight to find some speed from the data. On the long runs with more fuel, we were looking better than the short ones. As for the track, I enjoyed my first time driving on it and it's certainly challenging and exciting."
Daniel Ricciardo: "We ran the usual Friday programme, with the exception that we had some new parts to try, including wings aimed specifically at this track which needs the lowest levels of downforce so far this season. Apart from that, we also evaluated some updates concerning the exhausts. It was a productive day and we were lucky to escape the rain, which arrived just at the end of FP2. That's a good thing, because the forecast is for dry weather from now on. The car ran trouble-free so I was able to complete a lot of laps. We can improve the balance, but we have started on the right foot, because even on a dirty track this morning the car felt quite good and the balance in terms of braking was fine. I expect tomorrow's performance will be more representative of our real pace. Hopefully, we can qualify well and have a good weekend."
HRT:
Pedro de la Rosa: "It looks like we've taken a significant step forward here in Montreal. Our set-up is working well, our top speed is good and, overall, the car is working well. I'm happy that my mechanic is well, it's a huge relief because I was very worried for him. We were quicker than the Marussia's in the morning and the afternoon but both the car and myself can improve. The rise in temperature expected for tomorrow is good for us we're struggling to heat up the tyres in the last sector and that will help us."
Narain Karthikeyan: "Today wasn't a bad day, we made some changes to the car and it responded quite well. We improved a lot from the morning to the afternoon and we got the most out of what we had but we still have to improve tomorrow. I had a problem with the front left brake which didn't allow me to do a heavy fuel run so we'll have to work on that for tomorrow."
Marussia:
Timo Glock: "It has been a difficult start in Montreal for us today. The performance of the car was not perfect. We tried to evaluate some downforce levels in P1, but in general it was a bit difficult as the track was very green this morning to start. In FP2 we tried some set-up changes again. I made a little mistake in turn 1, when I had a bit of a spin. In general I think it is not our strongest track here, but we have to try to get on the top of the problems. Brake instability is still a problem here. The other teams are looking quite strong so I think we have a difficult weekend in front of us. Now we have to work hard overnight to get the car in better shape and see what we can do tomorrow."
Charles Pic: "A difficult start to the weekend at a track that is new for me. In those circumstances you hope for more consistent conditions than we experienced, but we kept our focus and completed our full evaluation programme, which was positive. This afternoon, in drier conditions, we had a problem with the brakes, so we had to change them. The team worked very hard to ensure I could get back out on track for the last ten minutes of the session, so thanks to them for that. We hope for a dry track for the rest of the weekend so we can start to make up some of what we lost today."
Related Links
Prac Two: Hamilton remains on top
Gallery: Friday's action from Montreal
