Hamilton tops Canada GP practice Kubica (Roundup)

Jun 7, 2008, 0:16 GMT

British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes steers his car from the garage during the second practice session at the race track prior to the Grand Prix of Canada, in Montreal, Canada, 06 June 2008. The Grand Prix of Canada takes place on Sunday 08 June 2008. EPA/JENS BUETTNER

Montreal - Lewis Hamilton led the way from Robert Kubica on Friday practice for the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix which carries special memories for both drivers - on opposing ends of the emotional spectrum.

The McLaren driver Hamilton won his first career race on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last year while Kubica miraculously escaped a horror crash at that 2007 race all but unharned.

On Friday, Hamilton proved his class again on the 4.361-kilometres when he drove the Mclaren-Mercedes to an unrivalled 1 minute 15.752 seconds.

But the Polish BMW driver Kubica was not far off on 1:16.023 with ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen third in 1:16.093 minutes.

The afternoon session provided much faster times than the morning round over 90 minutes which started in wet conditions and was won by Ferrari's Felipe Massa ahead of Kubica.

Kubica's good result confirmed that he was not traumatized by last year's spectacular high-speed crash when his car flew over the top of Jarno Trulli's Toyota and smashed into a concrete wall after is now behind him. He escaped the incident with minor injuries.

Hamilton is not only boosted by his 2007 win in Canada, he comes to Montreal brimming with confidence after a career-first Monte Carlo triumph a fortnight ago which he named his best win to date.

The Briton leads the drivers standings with 38 points from Raikkonen (35), Massa (34) and Kubica 32.

Qualifying was scheduled for Saturday and the race for Sunday.

The Canadian GP is the first race since Max Mosley won a vote of confidence Tuesday to stay on as president of the ruling motorsport body FIA - despite calls for to quit over a sex scandal from F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and several teams.

Most teams refrained from commenting on the issue but BMW motorsport chief Mario Theissen said that FIA could face difficult times.