Montreal, 6th June

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is surrounded by water, but as practice started this morning, the track surface also had a thin and slippery coating thanks to light rain that eventually left the track to dry towards the end of the first ninety minutes of action of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

In that morning session, Felipe Massa took his F2008 to the top of the time sheet, while Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen was fifth. In the second ninety minutes, which were held on an entirely dry track, the Finn was third and the Brazilian fifth. It was not all plain sailing, as Massa ended up having to park his car at the side of the track at the exit to the hairpin, one of the most popular viewing spots on this picturesque circuit. The cause of the problem has yet to be identified. As for Kimi, his sector times showed he might well have been higher up the order but for the odd bit of traffic he encountered. In the end, it was Lewis Hamilton, who took his maiden F1 win here last year, who emerged quickest for McLaren-Mercedes, waiting until the final minutes of the session to knock Robert Kubica's BMW-Sauber down to second place. Behind Kimi came fellow countryman Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren- Mercedes and completing the top six behind Massa was the BMW- Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.

The damp start to the day just added to the usual question marks at this circuit, where the track surface is in a constant state of evolution from "green" to "rubbered-in" over the course of the next two days. With more rain forecast, it will be a difficult task to predict how much grip will be on offer with each passing session. As usual, there is one more hour of free practice tomorrow morning, before Qualifying, which takes place an hour earlier than usual at 13h00 local time to better suit European TV audiences.