Rosberg leads while Vettel crashes out of Canada FP1

Rosberg led FP1 in Canada

Nico Rosberg led proceedings for first practice for the Canadian Grand Prix. A 1.15.591 was 2.5 seconds faster than the fastest lap set in FP1 last year.

However, the main highlight of the session was Sebastian Vettel crashing out with half an hour to go.

The Red Bull driver locked up at the final chicane, and slid into the “Wall of Champions”, notorious for crashes in the past. As well as losing valuable track time, the team also lost a new front wing which was on Vettel’s car.

Onboard with Vettel as he slams into the Wall of Champions

The session was littered with incidents as the track was still in its “green” stage. Nick Heidfeld, Paul di Resta, Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber, Narain Karthikeyan, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa all had off-track moments.

The first hour was spent testing Pirelli’s medium tyre to be used in Valencia, and soon focus switched to the soft compound. The super-soft compound was not used in this session.

Times from FP1:

 1.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1.15.591           32
 2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1.16.139   0.548   27
 3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1.16.549   0.958   30
 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1.16.658   1.067   26
 5.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1.16.676   1.085   20
 6.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1.16.842   1.251   19
 7.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1.16.990   1.399   28
 8.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1.17.294   1.703   26
 9.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault                 1.17.445   1.854   28
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes    1.17.549   1.958   20
11.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1.17.662   2.071   27
12.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1.17.820   2.229   30
13.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1.18.458   2.867   31
14.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                 1.18.506   2.915   15
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1.18.648   3.057   35
16.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1.18.852   3.261    8
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth       1.18.932   3.341   20
18.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault           1.19.274   3.683   29
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault           1.19.422   3.831   30
20.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1.19.577   3.986   26
21.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth         1.19.838   4.247   31
22.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth            1.19.960   4.369   23
23.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth         1.20.520   4.929   21
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth            1.20.839   5.248   27