Montreal: Sebastian Vettel set the fastest overall time in Friday's practice sessions for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix to provide another stark reminder of Red Bull's early domination of the Formula One season.
As all the teams, including Red Bull and their main rivals McLaren, struggled for grip on a Montreal street circuit described by some drivers as an "ice rink", Vettel kept his cool to set the pace by lapping the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in one minute 16.877 seconds.
Spain's Fernando Alonso, who won the opening race of the season but has had just one podium finish since, was second overall in his Ferrari, 0.086 seconds behind Vettel, despite several off-road adventures, with Germany's Nico Rosberg a close third in a Mercedes.
Vettel's Australian team mate and championship leader Mark Webber was fourth, erasing any concerns that Red Bull might struggle on a track considered unsuited to their cars.
"It was a pretty good day, we were pleasantly surprised with the pace," Webber told reporters. "There was some graining with the option tyre but they'll get better as the track rubbers in so I'm not worried about it." Vettel, who came perilously close to hitting the concrete walls on several occasions, said he expected the track to improve during Saturday's official qualifying session and again for Sunday's 70-lap race.
"Everyone was sliding around a bit at the end; it was a bit more like rally cross than Formula One," said the German, a winner in Malaysia this year.
"But that's normal and it will improve as the weekend goes on. The secret with these circuits is not to panic."
ICE RINK
The mood in the McLaren camp was gloomier after Lewis Hamilton, who won the last round of the championship in Turkey, could manage only seventh place and his fellow Briton, world champion Jenson Button, was 11th after setting the quickest time in the first of the two 90-minute sessions.
"I'm not entirely happy with how this afternoon went," Hamilton said.
"The track has been incredibly difficult to drive. It's very hard to switch the tyres on and get heat into them -- it's so slippery, it's like driving on an ice rink.
"It's such a huge difference from when we were last here. We're not pulling away down the straights and we've got quite a bit of bottoming but we can improve in those areas."
Red Bull have taken pole position in each of the seven previous races this season but were not expected to be as dominant in Canada because they have slightly less straight-line speed than their main rivals McLaren.
The Red Bulls have been superior because of their speed through fast corners but the Montreal track features a series of long straights and hairpin turns. However, any advantage the McLarens had hoped for was negated by the slippery conditions, which are not uncommon on street circuits.
The problem has been exacerbated at Montreal because the track was left off last year's Formula One calendar and was recently resurfaced.
"I think almost everybody is struggling with tyre issues here. It could be a pretty interesting race," Button said.
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