2050: That's all from us for today. Catch you again at 1430 BST on Saturday. Let's hope for less tennis and less broken feeds on the red button, though I'll be happy to get a repeat of Friday's drama.
2043: At least Andrew Benson has kept his chassis away from the chicanes, so to speak, and has managed to provide
a lovely little round-up of that session.
2039: Four crashes, and one retirement. Yep, I think "chaos-filled" pretty much sums it all up.
2032: The rest of the top 10 line up like this: Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Button, Di Resta, Webber, Petrov, Heidfeld, Barrichello.
2030: And yes it is the Spanish speedster who's top of the shop on 1:15.107. Nice work, Fernando.
2029: Looking like the fastest time of this session will stay with Alonso.
2029: Not quite sure why the Mercedes (18th and 20th) have been so slow in this session when they were so impressive in the morning. Vettel is "picking up vibrations" he says on team radio.
2027: Pictures flicker back into life, showing the pensive face of Anthony Hamilton, Lewis's dad. The three Brits, incidentally, have the fourth, fifth and sixth fastest times - Hamilton, Button, Di Resta, in that order.
2026: Apparently, 21 drivers (out of 24) have now made some sort of error at the same chicane.
2024: Pedro de la Rosa, having grabbed the spare Sauber seat, finally gets a couple of timed laps out of the way - nothing to shout about, he's down near the bottom of the field but he'll feel relieved anyway.
2021: Frustratingly for Freeview viewers accessing the red button service, no sooner does the tennis finish at Queen's than the feed breaks down from Montreal. I can only apologise for events beyond my control.
BBC Radio 5 live F1 commentator David Croft: "Lewis Hamilton is going to go out again. They've taped up the tyres and he's going to do a few more laps."
Hamilton suffered a puncture earlier on... 2016: D'Ambrosio's Virgin has been picked up and dumped on a grass verge behind the wall. Fourteen minutes to go and the cars can go out once again.
2011: I spoke to soon, red flags waved now.
2010: Oh dear. In the same corner where Kamui Kobayashi suffered a coming together of wall and car, Virgin's Jerome d'Ambrosio twists up his wheels and axles. Fortunately, the damage is not so bad that the red flag needs to be deployed.
2009: With barely 20 minutes remaining, a load of cars absolutely roar out of the pits for the last fragment of Friday practice.
2007: Session will restart at 2009, as we see Sergio Perez shaking hands with the Sauber pit crew before bidding them farewell for the remainder of the weekend.
Ferrari on Twitter: "A piece of Sauber bodywork was found inside Felipe's car. Our crew will go to their garage to bring it back."
2000: So this session is red-flagged while the marshals clear up the Kobayashi accident. Debris everywhere. "Mistake, mistake. I just crashed into the wall," he says over team radio.
1959: Bang. Sauber's problems increase as Kamui Kobayashi, the only driver on the team up and running, slams almost straight into the wall on exiting turn four.
1957: Some of the overhead shots of this track show pleasure boats plying their way serenely on the big river that adjoins this track. The contrasting urgency of the F1 cars adjacent to them is stark, to say the least.
1954: There's a man in Force India overalls getting out of his car... it's Adrian Sutil, and now we see a replay of him crashing into the wall on the outside of a gentle right-hander, on exiting the turn 6/7 chicane. Whoops. Understeer, we think.
1951: Pedro de la Rosa is still in the garage. He won't want to wait until Saturday to get a feel of the Sauber. Still, it's an unexpected opportunity for him to get a race drive.
From Joe, Ferrari fan: Vettel has crashed yet again in Friday practice and this time on the Canadian circuit that he finds tough. Will the crash in P1 phase Vettel and make him wary of the 'wall of champions' or will it drive him on for another pole/victory?
Hi Joe, it's a fascinating conundrum indeed... Benjamin D on Twitter: "The Pirellis are the biggest challenge this weekend. Bumpy/fast chicanes and no grip."
1945: Is it going to be a weekend for the
tifosi? Fernando Alonso goes quickest now, and Felipe Massa has the third best time. Sebastian Vettel splits those two, with the McLarens fourth and fifth. Still 45 minutes left in the session, mind.
BBC pit-lane reporter Jennie Gow: "At Sauber they're doing their best to get Sergio Perez's car to fit the body shape of the slightly taller Pedro de la Rosa. 'Always be prepared,' as my mother said. Pedro will be racing in his McLaren overalls."
1938: As Vitaly Petrov's Renault locks up on braking, a quick glance of the times shows us that Ferrari's morning pace is back - Massa is second best, Alonso third. So while Vettel still tops the timings, it looks like the prancing horse might be his biggest threat in Canada.
Darrell, Leicester, via text: "I hope Lewis does well this weekend. Needs a win after last weekend. I couldn't bear what he went through, bless him."
1931: Having shown plenty of promise in the first practice session, Ferrari and Mercedes are having a quieter time of things now. The best of the four drivers representing those teams is currently Fernando Alonso (seventh).
1925: More on the developing situation at Sauber now. Team Principal
Peter Sauber confirms Pedro de la Rosa will take over Perez's car for the remainder of the weekend, and adds: "This development hit us by surprise, because Sergio underwent thorough medical checks, first in the hospital in Monaco, then in a hospital in Zurich, and finally, the FIA doctors gave him the green light this Thursday in Montreal. Nobody could have foreseen that he would feel unwell. Maybe we are being overly cautious, but when it's about the health of our drivers we take zero risks."
1922: McLaren are beginning to get their act together, Hamilton and Button posting the second and third fastest laps to break up the Red Bulls.
Sergio Perez: "Of course I wanted to drive and I had no doubt I was alright. But apparently this is unfortunately not the case. I am deeply disappointed. I spoke to the team after the session and told them that I'm not a 100% fit. I only want to drive when I'm a 100% well. I need some more time to recover."
1919: BREAKING NEWS - Sergio Perez misses Canadian GP.
1918: I'm about to bring you some comments from Sergio Perez which are hot off the press.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "It's a long way from the paddock to the TV compound here, as I know only too well having done the journey twice as much as necessary after leaving a couple of crucial items in the BBC office when I headed over to the media centre after the first session. Thankfully, it really is an absolutely gorgeous day, which took some of the pain out of my idiocy."
1914:...and serenity returns to Red Bull as Mark Webber pops up with the second best lap so far.
1913: At the risk of eliciting a few groans from the back of the room, I can report that the fastest lap of this session is laid down by the one and only Mr Sebastian Vettel. Quick work from the Red Bull team to get him competitive so soon after that crash in the first session.
1911: Esteban Gutierrez is the regular reserve driver for Sauber, but is not in Canada this weekend. As a result, Sauber have asked McLaren if they can "borrow" Pedro de la Rosa while Sergio Perez recovers. A sort of gentleman's agreement, if you like, but let's all hope Perez is fighting fit for Saturday qualifying.
From Captain Jack & the crew of the Black Pearl, via text: "I think that the leader should not be allowed to use DRS and Kers, even to pass back markers. It would stop the leader disappearing into the distance as we've seen Vettel do so far. Enjoying the coverage."
Red Bull boss Christian Horner: "There was no damage to the monocoque of [Sebastian Vettel's car] and the boys have done a phenomenal job to get the car ready. We were at dinner last night and shown footage of all the people who had hit that wall so Sebastian must have wanted to get it out of the way early. Our target is to fight for a place on the podium and hopefully we can be competitive here even though it is a track that doesn't suit the characteristics of our car."
1904: Toro Rosso's Jamie Alguersuari, a familiar trail-blazer in the early stages of these sessions, sets the first timed lap, but is quickly toppled by Paul di Resta of Force India.
1900: OK, we're under way in Montreal. I'm hearing coverage may not be available on Freeview because of the tennis from Queen's. If so, apologies, but watch it online instead!
BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Lee McKenzie: "As Sebastian Vettel drove me round the circuit on Wednesday I did say that we were getting a little too close to the barrier for my liking and I asked him if he thought rallying his way round a circuit with me in the passenger seat was good preparation for this weekend. If you watched first practice, his judgement, which had been impeccable on Wednesday, was indeed off as he became another big name claimed by the wall of champions. The feature with Sebastian will go out in the pre-race show on Sunday. He not only tries to scare me but also talks about the championship and who he thinks his rivals are this season."
1854: I can confirm that live pictures are coming through from Montreal, which, of course, is the second largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris. It still seems odd that there is no French GP any more, if you ask me.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "Sebastian Vettel looked seriously hacked off as he made his way back to the pits after his accident in first practice. But he had cheered up by the time he left the engineering office with a trademark sunny smile before heading to the pits to prepare for the second session."
1845: McLaren reported
on their Twitter page in the aftermath of Sebastian Vettel's crash into the "wall of champions" that they heard Jenson Button telling his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton that he had had a crash there in 2005. Our very own boffin Andrew Benson adds that Button had started on pole for Honda and crashed late during the race when running fourth.
1841: So to sum up, blame the Swiss...
1840: Less than 20 minutes before the second free practice session, and as far as I know the problems that affected the final stages of TV coverage on the BBC red button have been alleviated. Here's the official reason for the outage earlier in the day: "The pictures that the BBC uses for F1 practice sessions are provided by the host broadcaster, FOM. These feeds travel via satellite to multiple broadcasters across the globe, and take a complex path before arriving at the BBC's transmission base in west London. Today, near the end of FP1, there was a
power failure in Geneva, affecting the route that the host feed takes. This interrupted the transmission for the remainder of the session. We hope that normal service will be resumed for FP2, by re-routing of satellite feeds where necessary."
 ...but I like it here! |
1836: Do you like your ground squirrels? Important news has arrived. In the wake of an incident during the race here in 2007 - Anthony Davidson was running third when his Super Aguri struck a groundhog on the straight before the pits, ultimately putting him back to 11th place and ending his bid for his first career points - we have heard the following via Red Bull: "Beaver Ban! All the marmots have been captured and taken from the island to keep the track-kill numbers down. Understandable, but a shame..."
1830: And so, in the words of Eminem, I'm Back... after a first practice session that was a B+ for both Mercedes and Ferrari, a B- for McLaren and a C for Red Bull following Sebastian Vettel's crash and a modest time from Mark Webber.
Force India on Twitter: "A pretty productive morning. Paul di Resta ends up in P8 on a 1:17.294 after 26 laps, while Nico is P10 on a 1:17.549 and 28 laps."
1638: Apologies that we were unable to bring you the last few minutes of the practice session via the red button facility. I am told a power cut in Canada was the cause of this. I am sure everything possible will be done to rectify that issue ahead of P2, starting at 1900 BST.
Michael, via text message: "Be great to see Ferrari and Mercedes on top. Need a change from Red Bull."
1633: So it's largely as you were, Rosberg the top dog after the first free practice session, with his Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher third. The two Ferraris were second and fourth, with McLaren fifth and sixth. The best Red Bull man was Mark Webber (12th), with his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, having crashed, only able to record the 16th best time of the 24 runners.
1630: End of the session - update to follow.
Pirelli on Twitter: "Rosberg is now on 1m15.591s. It's not so far from the pole time last year (1m15.105s, set by Lewis Hamilton)."
1627: We're just three minutes away from the end of the practice session, and the news is that Mercedes and Ferrari share the four fastest times - Rosberg, Alonso, Schumacher and Massa in that order - are the quick men at the moment.
1625: Confirmation from
BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz that Jenson Button's DRS has indeed been "dismantled" and is currently out of use. Not a great day for McLaren or Red Bull so far...
1620: Quite a lot of you are saying the McLarens are not using their DRS at all at the moment. We'll attempt to find out a bit more about this.
1617: Nico Rosberg, despite making a slight error on that beastly chicane, sets a new fastest time in his Mercedes, at 1:16.0002
1613: Jenson Button is niggling his way into the picture. He is third fastest now.
1612: It's a Ferrari love-in at the moment. Alonso from Massa at the top of the standings. I saw a Ferrari stuck in heavy traffic in north London this morning, engine close to overheating - isn't it both amusing and ironic when you see that?
BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz: "McLaren have sent Lewis Hamilton out with no display at all. He's having to change gear on instinct alone and with no read out."
1609: More problems on the last chicane - Paul di Resta and Nick Heidfeld are the latest drivers to find it a tricky piece of track to negotiate, though neither have ended up with twisted bits of chassis a la Vettel.
Samuel Brown on Twitter: "The Bahrain GP is a boring track, boring race and only one man and his dog turn up anyway, I won't miss it!"
From an amused
Andy in Southampton, via text message: "Did any of you guys see the marshal slowly topple over as he ran towards Vettel's car?
1603: A minor change in the pecking order has Jenson Button, who is sporting a new haircut, promoting his McLaren to fourth fastest. The top three remain, in order: Massa, Rosberg, Webber. Twenty-seven minutes to go in P1.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "Oh dear. Unfortunately for Vettel, he effectively predicted this crash himself on Thursday, when he said: 'This is one of the most difficult weekends. You have the walls pretty close. I felt it in 2008, when I was not able to take part in qualifying because I hit the wall in practice. It is a long weekend.' It's unlikely to affect him too much, though - if you remember, he also crashed in first practice in Turkey and missed most of Friday, but still dominated the race."
Sebastian Vettel on the Red Bull team radio: "I hit the kerb, slid off the track and hit the wall. I'm fine."
BBC Radio 5 live F1 commentator David Croft: "Vettel adds his name to F1 champions who have gone into the Wall of Champions. Vettel was one of the first cars to go out on the soft tyres so maybe pushing a bit harder - he was pushing for his best lap time. That was a big crunch and has pretty much wrecked the right-hand side of his car."
1556: A crash for Sebastian Vettel, a heavy one, losing control as his car drifts after the chicane and he slams the right side of into the Wall of Champions. The driver's fine, but the world champion's error has caused the session to be red-flagged.
1554: With a lot of comment about the track being very "dirty" at this stage, the chicane at turns eight and nine is causing some problems, and Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari grazes the grass...
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "Many of the teams have brought updates to this race, a lot of them specifically in response to its requirement for a relatively low downforce configuration. But Ferrari may have something more than that. A few weeks ago, team boss Stefano Domenicali mentioned Canada as the first race at which his team might be expected to challenge for victory after a disappointing start to the season. And the team have brought new front and rear wings as well as an updated version of their exhaust-blown diffuser to Canada. Fernando Alonso didn't sound too optimistic on Thursday, so it will be interesting to see how he goes here, on a track where he came close to winning in 2010."
BBC pit-lane reporter Jennie Gow: "Lewis Hamilton is standing alongside his pit crew and they're talking about why the steering column blanked out. They are going to do a quick fix and he will manage to do some more practice laps, but they're not sure why it happened."
1547: Change at the top. Ferrari appear to be enjoying a decent weekend - in its very early stages - as Felipe Massa tops the times, while Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) is second, from Mark Webber (Red Bull). The second Ferrari (Fernando Alonso) is fourth quickest.
BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz: "There are two people with big problems. Sebastian Vettel is back in the garage and they have been working on the brakes on his Red Bull and only now is he stepping back in the car. But Lewis Hamilton's looks terminal. They've removed the entire steering column from his car."
1542: Hamilton's session could be over. His McLaren is up on the stands in the garage, they're taking the floor off the car, and the driver has already unzipped his race suit. Problems.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson: "A novelty for this weekend is the introduction of a second zone where drivers can deploy their 'DRS' overtaking aid - a moving part of the rear wing that reduces drag and therefore boosts speed. Here in Montreal, the first zone is down the long straight from the hairpin into the final chicane - but a second immediately follows along the pit straight. No one appears to think two zones is a bad idea, even though overtaking is generally not a problem here. But there are mixed views about its likely efficacy. Jenson Button believes that a driver risks losing two places if he is being chased by two cars - one in the first zone and one in the second. But Sebastian Vettel believes overtaking will still be tough down the pit straight because 'into Turn One is not a hard stop'."
Hispania technical director Geoff Willis: "We've been trying to bring new parts to every race. We have a new exhaust layout and we'll decide whether it will stay on during the weekend. We're preparing for our first wind tunnel programme which will be starting next month in Brackley [home of the Mercedes team]. Everyone is racing their neighbours and our immediate neighbours are Virgin so anything we can do to get closer to them will be a step for us."
1538: Hamilton on top now, from Schumacher. Jamie Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) is third fastest, but I'll be amazed if he does anything like as well as that come Sunday. Oh and did you know? Paul di Resta, of Force India, has never taken to this circuit in any cateogry of racing. He's eighth fastest at present.
BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz: "Red Bull's new front wing is beautiful and they have a new diffuser on the car as well - some photographers were trying to get a look of it but the Red Bull mechanics were standing in the way. Lovely work at Red Bull and a feeling in the team that they aren't going to just settle for the points here this weekend. They are going to try and win this one."
1534: As well as birds causing problems here, groundhogs are an issue at this track - yes, like in that movie. I'll keep you posted if anything happens. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher now tops the timings, and Lewis Hamilton has the second fastest lap.
From
Adam Venus, via text message: "There was a risk that a Bahrain event would have brought politics into sport. Bad move."
1526: First quick lap times coming through, and it's Ferrari's Fernando Alonso setting the early pace with a spin round the circuit at a tick under 1min 20secs.
BBC Radio 5 live F1 commentator David Croft: "The only Red Bull driver to stand on the podium in Montreal is David Coulthard in 2008. This circuit isn't their best. It is fair to say that if McLaren can't do it here their chances aren't great for the rest of the season."
1522: Fairly quiet out on the track for now. Everyone has done at least a lap or two, but nobody has set a time yet.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "The death knell for Bahrain rang on Monday when the teams objected to going there, and everything since then has effectively been an elaborate dance to formalise that reality. The latest step in that came last night, when Bahrain put out a statement saying they accepted the race would not happen. All that remains is for the FIA to formally republish the calendar without Bahrain and moving India back to 30 October, its original date."
1518: Drama of a very minor sort as Jarno Trulli's Lotus collides with a small bird on his installation lap. I'll let you guess who won that particular fight.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "The usual suspects will doubtless be battling it out at the front this weekend, with Red Bull facing a challenge from McLaren and Ferrari, but the unique layout of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is likely to shake things up a bit. There are no fast corners for the Red Bulls to stretch their legs, and the long straights are not good for the championship leaders, whose cars do not have as much power as their rivals. So the expectation is that Red Bull will face a tougher challenge than normal. McLaren's Jenson Button predicts that may come from an unexpected quarter. Mercedes get a bigger advantage down the straights from their DRS drag-reduction device than any other team and Button says this will mean 'they are going to be very, very quick in qualifying'."
1512: Toro Rosso reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo, subbing for Sebastien Buemi, reports back after a few laps with the following news about his brakes: "Quite a soft feeling from the pedal and quite sticky."
BBC Radio 5 live F1 commentator David Croft: "I was talking to some of the Virgin guys, they were all saying that they have quite a few parts that they won't be able to use if we get rain this weekend."
...I'll add this: a number of teams are trying tweaks to various body parts, it's like a plastic surgery clinic for rich Californians out there. 1504: It has crossed my mind that you might want to read the latest news about Bahrain. So the long and the short of it once again -
the organisers of the race accept it will not take place this year. The latest development is essentially an extension of F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's comments earlier in the week - that the teams had objected, and thus Bahrain was a no-go.
1502: The racing green livery draped over the chassis of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus flashes through the first few turns - the Finn is the first man to hit the tarmac.
Andy, Manchester, via text message to 81111: "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but overtaking has never been an issue here, so is one DRS zone even needed? Never mind two."
I don't think anyone's complaining about there being too much overtaking are they? 1450: In 10 minutes, the pit lane will open at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Tyre choices this weekend are softs and super softs. Expect the drivers to take things relatively easy early on - this is a circuit that can severely test suspension, brakes and engines - there have been an average eight retirements per race since the start of the Millennium.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "The Canadian Grand Prix is one of the most popular events on the calendar with those in Formula 1. Montreal is a vibrant, exciting city and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve always seems to produce exciting races. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who has won two of the last four races here, is a particular fan: "It's a fantastic place. This is one of the top races of the year. The city is full of people, it's a great place to be, there's great history here, Gilles Villeneuve, it's a street circuit, it's quite bumpy, I particularly enjoy it. You've got to be close to the walls here, which I really like doing."
1440: There's little doubt about it what the big story in F1 is at the moment - the shall-we-shall-we-not tug-of-war looming like a summer thunderstorm over the Bahrain GP. As far as we can tell, the matter has finally been put to bed - there will be no race in Bahrain this season. Your thoughts on that are welcome, but also please let me have your predictions for this weekend, via
text on 81111 or through Twitter, using
hashtag #bbcf1. BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Montreal: "After two days of heat, humidity and thunderstorms, there was a freshness to the air in this wonderful city this morning. The sun is glinting off the imposing St Lawrence Seaway under big, blue North American skies and the enthusiastic Canadian fans are already streaming on to the Ile Notre Dame in expectation of a great weekend on the track. They are right to be excited. Sebastian Vettel may be running away with the championship, but he has faced real challenges in recent races, and this weekend could be his Red Bull team's toughest so far."
1430: A very warm welcome to the seventh weekend of the Formula 1 season, where I am joined in London by
Sarah Holt and Jon Barbuti, while, immersing himself in Montreal - and quite possibly having indulged in a breakfast themed around maple syrup, is
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson. 
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