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McLaren set pace in Canada
McLaren set the pace on the opening day of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend when test driver Pedro de la Rosa finished fastest in both practice sessions.
McLaren set the pace on the opening day of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend when test driver Pedro de la Rosa finished fastest in both practice sessions here Friday.
De la Rosa had set the early pace when he finished fastest in the morning run with a time of 1:16.415 to beat second-placed Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta by 0.169 seconds.
And he proved McLaren will be the team to beat when he upped the pace again in the afternoon hour to set a time of 1:14.662 that put him 0.192 seconds ahead of Zonta, who finished second once again.
"Hopefully Kimi (Raikkonen) and Juan Pablo (Montoya) should have a strong weekend. The main priority today was to test the tyres and we have found a lot of useful data that will help for the rest of the weekend," said de la Rosa.
World championship leader Fernando Alonso heads into this weekend with a 32-point championship lead after capitalising on McLaren driver Raikkonen's last-lap crash at the last race in Germany to claim his fourth win of the year.
But in sizzling temperatures of 32 degrees the Spaniard had to be content with third position, the fastest race driver, as he finished 0.714 seconds off the pace in his Renault.
Alonso said: "It was nearly a perfect Friday for us. We completed the programme as planned without any mechanical problems and I was lucky because in the long runs I managed to get clean laps."
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella securing sixth in the second Renault with Briton Jenson Button, who admitted he will be shocked if he fails to score a point this weekend, finished a satisfying seventh fastest.
Button's Japanese team-mate Takuma Sato backed him up in eighth place while German Ralf Schumacher, who has been on pole position here for the last two years, had to settle for ninth in his Toyota.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello put his Ferrari into tenth place but German world champion Michael Schumacher, who has won the race here for the last three years, could only manage the 16th fastest time.
Schumacher was hopeful of an improved performance here this weekend but after the opening day he admitted: "We are not looking too competitive here, looking at the lap times.
"I did not get the best out of my new tyres this afternoon because I went out early but if you look at Rubens' time, which he set on the same tyres later in the session, it looks a bit better."
De la Rosa was always the pace setter, going fastest early on and bettering his times throughout the session, which was ran in front of packed grandstands under hazy skies.
Indian Narain Karthikeyan, under pressure after criticism from his Jordan team boss Colin Kolles earlier in the morning, pushed too hard once again and spun early in the session.
American Scott Speed then spun at turn four halfway through the session and stopped out on track as he continued a disappointing Grand Prix debut as a third driver for Red Bull Racing, finishing bottom of the timesheets.
Jacques Villenuve was one of several drivers who cut across the chicane as he pushed to improve on the 17th fastest lap time with 15 minutes of the session remaining but he eventually moved up to 13th.
