Hamilton leads practice 3 - Canada

The McLaren driver lapped two tenths of a second faster than Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, and four tenths quicker than his teammate Fernando Alonso.

The morning got off to a slow start as the ample coating of cement dust on the track following the destructive Formula Ford support race discouraged drivers from attempting early laps.

Then shortly after the action began in earnest, Heikki Kovalainen's Renault suffered a substantial engine failure approaching the final chicane, causing a 17-minute red flag stoppage while the dropped oil was cleared.

The unfortunate Finn had already missed much of Friday practice after hitting the wall, and is now facing the extra handicap of a ten place grid penalty for an engine change on top of his lack of practice mileage on the unfamiliar track.

Alonso was the first driver to hit the oil slick deposited by the Renault, causing him to slew over the kerbs and grass at the chicane, ruining his first attempt at a flying lap.

He immediately went quickest when the session resumed, but his 1:16.421 was quickly beaten by Hamilton's 1:16.021. Raikkonen split the pair several minutes later.

Felipe Massa was only fourth fastest after a trip over the Turn 3 grass on his final lap.

After breaking into the top ten on Friday, Takuma Sato managed fifth place for Super Aguri in today's session, ahead of early pacesetter Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber.

Rubens Barrichello gave another hint that Honda's performance might be improving with eighth place, while David Coulthard took ninth despite a wild trip over the final chicane kerbs at the end of the session. Anthony Davidson completed the top ten in the second Super Aguri.

Nick Heidfeld was only 19th quickest for BMW, with a notable trail of smoke behind his car on his final lap. This was caused by a heat shield problem rather than an engine failure, so he will not incur an engine change penalty.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:16.071           12
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:16.459 + 0.388   14
 3.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:16.465 + 0.394    9
 4.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:16.666 + 0.595   13
 5.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:16.864 + 0.793   12
 6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:16.975 + 0.904   14
 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:17.071 + 1.000   11
 8.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:17.329 + 1.258   16
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:17.391 + 1.320   11
10.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:17.391 + 1.320   15
11.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:17.454 + 1.383   12
12.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:17.468 + 1.397   15
13.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:17.601 + 1.530   12
14.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:17.624 + 1.553   17
15.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:17.742 + 1.671   12
16.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:17.748 + 1.677   13
17.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:17.799 + 1.728   14
18.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:18.270 + 2.199   13
19.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:18.428 + 2.357    5
20.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:18.489 + 2.418   11
21.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:18.758 + 2.687   10
22.  Albers        Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:18.933 + 2.862   13