Montreal: Lewis Hamilton topped the times and then crashed into the barriers in his Mercedes car in heavy rain that curtailed Friday’s second practice for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The defending world champion and current series leader was unhurt and walked away after aquaplaning into the barriers at the hairpin at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve when a downpour midway through the 90 minutes’ action brought it to a halt.
Two 30-year-old Briton, a two-time world champion, had topped the times in Friday morning’s opening free practice session ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and the pair were more than 1.5 seconds clear of the field.
In his accident, Hamilton lost control and was unable to stop his car sliding into the wall at the tight and tricky track that has a record for accidents and incidents.
“It has still been a good day so I am pretty relaxed,” said Hamilton. “It wasn’t my call to go out. Not necessarily, no. It was just like being on ice! It was so slippery.
“We collectively don’t think it was the best call to go out, but at the end of the day it didn’t affect our running.”
Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe admitted: “It didn’t quite end the way we wanted it to. We went out to do practice race starts, a normal part of our P2 programme. Unfortunately, the worsened quicker than expected and caught Lewis out.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff added: “I think he just aquaplaned. The front wing is gone, but hopefully no more.
“He was pretty quick. He’s fastest on the time-sheets, but I won’t read too much into it. It’s just one of those days, one of those Fridays when it is difficult to get a lap together.”
Hamilton was fastest ahead of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the time of the accident with Rosberg back in fourth.
“The car’s feeling good out there, really good,” he said of his Mercedes. “But Ferrari have picked up the pace with their engine, which will be interesting to see tomorrow. I think we are still in good form.”
Earlier, Hamilton had survived a part-spin on his way to clocking the fastest time in Friday morning’s opening free practice.
Two weeks on from the team’s pit-stop fiasco in Monaco, Hamilton clocked a best time of one minute and 16.212 seconds to end quickest by 0.415 seconds ahead of his team-mate and nearest rival Rosberg.
On a relatively cool, cloudy but dry day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the two Mercedes men were more than 1.5 seconds clear of third-placed Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus and the rest of the field.
German Nico Hulkenberg was fourth for Force India ahead of four-time champion compatriot Vettel in his Ferrari and Brazilian Felipe Massa who was sixth for Williams.
Russian Daniil Kvyat wound up seventh for Red Bull ahead of Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado in the second Lotus, Spanish two-time champion Fernando Alonso in a McLaren and, on his first visit to the track, Dutch teenager Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso.
