Lewis Hamilton returned to the the top of the timesheets as he headed a Mercedes 1-2 in Friday Free Practice ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

The three-time Montreal winner assumed his position at the top with just 30 minutes of the second free practice session remaining by posting a 1.16.118s effort.

The time was nearly two tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg had briefly led the hit-out after his first run on super-soft tyres but it was short-lived as Hamilton immediately responded to press home his advantage at the circuit.

Once again the Mercedes team dominated the session and its similarly powered rivals also filled six of the top 10 positions.

Although, Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel proved to be the best of the rest as he finished the session in third following a strong run late on using the super-soft tyres.

Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was hampered by gearbox issues throughout the session and could only set a time good enough for 12th. However, he was crucially ahead of both Force Indias.

Ferrari’s new upgrades appeared to have brought them closer to the front runners as Kimi Raikkonen set the fourth fastest time. The Finn just pipped team-mate Fernando Alonso, who topped the times in the morning’s opening free practice session.

The pair were just half a second adrift of the Mercedes duo.

Williams returned to form as they made the most of their Mercedes power advantage to secure sixth and seventh spot. Felipe Massa edged his opposite number Valtteri Bottas by almost a tenth of a second.

Kevin Magnussen was eighth ahead of his McLarne team-mate Jenson Button as the Woking team proved to be another outfit suited to the high speed and heavy braking nature of the Circuit De Gilles Villenueve.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne completed the top 10, while the sister car of Danill Kvyat could only complete nine laps due to a mechanical issue.

Force India provided the biggest surprise as Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez could only muster times good enough for 13th and 14th positions respectively. The Silverstone team were comfortably the slowest Mercedes powered squad.

Canadian Grand Prix Friday Free Practice 2 Results