2015 F1 Round 7 – Canadian Grand Prix FP2: Hamilton fastest, aquaplanes into barrier in torrential rain

Hamilton continued to set the pace in second practice for the Canadian Grand Prix on the afternoon of June 5, posting a 1:15.988 to finish 0.316 seconds ahead of Vettel. Räikkönen was third, with both Ferraris close behind the Mercedes.

The track was still dry at the start of the session, and the drivers wasted no time in putting in quick laps on supersoft tyres. Vettel and Räikkönen initially recorded 1:16.304 and 1:16.310 respectively, before Hamilton lowered the benchmark to 1:15.988.

With around 55 minutes remaining, rain began to fall at the circuit and quickly turned heavy. Mercedes sent Hamilton and Rosberg out in the rain on intermediate tyres to assess the track conditions, but running in the wet soon led to an incident.

Hamilton aquaplaned off the track at the hairpin and hit the tyre barrier, damaging his front wing. Officials brought out the red flag to recover the car; after the green flag was shown again, no driver completed another representative flying lap, so the earlier dry-track times determined the final order.

Rosberg was fourth with a 1:16.440, with Maldonado fifth. Bottas and Grosjean were sixth and seventh respectively, and Massa was eighth.

Kvyat was ninth, Ricciardo tenth and Hülkenberg 11th. Ericsson, Sainz, Pérez and Alonso were 12th to 15th, in that order.

Verstappen was 16th, Nasr 17th and Button 18th. Marussia’s Merhi clocked 1:19.531, 0.203 seconds ahead of team-mate Stevens, with the pair occupying the bottom two positions.

The torrential rain curtailed track activity in the second half of the session. Hamilton’s crash came after he had set the session’s fastest lap, and he ultimately completed 22 laps; Vettel and Räikkönen completed 19 and 20 laps respectively.