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MONTREAL -- Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg still have the fastest car on the track, but the competition may not be quite so far behind at the Canadian Grand Prix. Practice day on Friday saw Fernando Alonso bring his Ferrari around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with the fastest time in the morning practice, only to see the Hamilton and Rosberg dominate the afternoon session in their Mercedes AMGs. "The Ferraris looked quite close today and the rest of the field seemed closer in general, but hopefully not too close," said Hamilton. "Its very hard to overtake here, so pole position is important. "Nico looked very quick as well, so I have my work cut out for sure. Well find out everyones pace in qualifying (Saturday) afternoon, so lets wait and see what happens." Hamilton thrives on the tightly-cornered 4,361-kilometre circuit, and the superior power of this years Mercedes engine makes the Briton and his German-Finnish teammate Rosberg heavy favourites to stretch their winning run to start the Formula One season to seven races. Hamilton is a three-time winner in Montreal, and will be gunning for his fourth pole position in qualifying. Rosberg is looking for a second pole and a second win in a row after a victory at Monaco two weeks ago. "It felt pretty good out there, but weve still got improvements to make and there is more to come from the set-up and balance," said Hamilton. "Were not quite where we want to be yet." Hamilton posted a quickest lap of one minute 16.118 seconds, just ahead of Rosberg at 1:16.293. Defending champion Sebastian Vettels Red Bull car was third at 1:16.573 followed by the two Ferraris, Kimi Raikkonen in 1:16.573 and Alonso in 1:16.701. "Im still a tenth off the quickest time so Ill work hard with our engineers to find that extra pace," said Rosberg. "Its a unique track here, and its very difficult to hit the curbs just right." The Mercedes team has been all-but unbeatable since the switch to more fuel-efficient 1.6-litre turbo engines this season. They have won every race, with Hamilton taking four and Rosberg two, and have finished one-two in the last five. There has been more competition between the teammates than with the rest of the grid so far, but perhaps the tracks peculiarities, and its lurking dangers, will make a race of it on Sunday. The circuit features long straightaways leading into sharp turns. There are chicanes, including one near the home stretch that has sent many top drivers into the concrete barrier known as the Wall of Champions. "It is a short lap here, which closes up the field anyway, but it feels like Ferrari might be pushing us harder this weekend," said Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff. "We will need to get every detail right to deliver our potential in the race, so theres plenty of work still ahead of us." Alonso caused a mild surprise by beating the Mercedes in the morning practice session, but Rosberg topped the Spaniards time of 1:17.238 early in the afternoon runs. When the Mercedes drivers switched to supersoft tires 30 minutes into the afternoon, they were too quick for the field. The two-time world champion Spaniard, a winner in Canada in 2006, is a distant third in drivers standings behind the two Mercedes but it is still early in the 19-race season. He said this week his car is improving, even if the gap with Mercedes will be very difficult to close. "Its going to be tough," said Alonso. "There are updates coming to the car that weve been working on for some weeks. "All these hopes, we need to see it on the track. Its one of the shorter circuits, so we expect the times to be really close. So we need to find perfection. One or two tenths can be six or seven positions. We need to be in the front of those cars." The large crowd that turned out on a cool, overcast day got its first earful of the new F1 engines, which no longer have the high-pitched whine that was the sports signature sound for years. Instead, its a much quieter rumble. Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 champion and a native of Iberville, Que., has no problem with the sound. "The problem with the engine isnt the volume," said Villeneuve. "Its good. "You can bring your kids and you know that you wont blow their eardums. Thats a good thing. You can have a phone conversation. The problem you can feel that theres no power. Theres no grunt. If you look at the turbos in the 1980s, the volume wasnt really louder, but you could tell the drivers were fighting with a wild animal. Thats not the case now." A dicey moment came 27 minutes in when Adrian Sutil had to take a short cut over a curb to avoid crashing into Kevin Magnussens slow-moving McLaren. Stewards investigated the incident and decided it did not warrant a penalty. However, Red Bulls Daniel Riccardo was given a reprimand for passing Pastor Maldonados Lotus in "a manner potentially dangerous to others" in pit lane. It was the Aussies first reprimand of the season. Jules Bianchi of Marussia hit a wall hard and sustained heavy damage in the morning practice but the French driver felt he would be will be OK afternoon. But after three laps his Ferrari-powered car stayed in the garage most of the afternoon. Caterham had 22-year-old American Alexander Rossi in Kamui Kobayashis car for the first practice, although the Japanese driver took over in the afternoon session. Rossi, a GP2 driver being groomed for F1, was last in the 22-car field at 1:21.757, just behind teammate Marcus Ericsson. Rossi will also drive in practice at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas in November. Fake Vans Old Skool . A steady downpour and low temperatures were predicted for much of the night. No makeup date was immediately announced, although it was determined that the game will not be part of a doubleheader on Wednesday. Fake Vans Slip-on . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell. http://www.fakevans.com/. The motion to expand the stadiums capacity passed through by a count of 39-3, with Toronto mayor Rob Ford being among those in opposition. Fake Vans From China . The Asheville, N.C. native, who signed as a free agent with the CFL club last May, didnt see any action with Edmonton this season after opening the year on the injured list. Fake Vans Outlet . Chile applied pressure in midfield right from the beginning, challenging aggressively and continually surging forward. Eduardo Vargas beat the offside trap and fired home a stinging shot for Chiles opening goal in the fifth minute.ATLANTA - The Indiana Pacers headed south Wednesday, finally carrying themselves with a swagger befitting the No. 1 seed. Now, they need to prove theyre really back on track — at a place where they havent had much success over the years. The Pacers evened the series against the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks with a dominating third-quarter performance in Game 2, stifling some of the incessant criticism the supposed best team in the East had endured after sleepwalking through the final seven weeks of the regular season and turning in a dismal performance in the playoff opener. Of course, the condemnation will start up all over again if the Pacers falter in Game 3 on Thursday night. Theyve got to keep their edge. "That was my point to them," coach Frank Vogel said after a practice in Indianapolis, before the team hopped on a 90-minute flight to Atlanta. "Weve got to maintain that." While a bit down about their most recent showing, the Hawks already accomplished their primary goal of the series — win a game on the road to steal away the home-court advantage. Besides, this team has endured plenty of adversity in recent years, from a massive overhaul that left Atlanta with almost an entirely new roster to the loss of top player Al Horford with a season-ending injury back in December. The Hawks may have lucked into the playoffs with the worst record of any qualifier (38-44), but theyve shown plenty of grit and teamwork to make up for their deficiencies. "Our group has been very, very resilient all year, very tough-minded all year," rookie coach Mike Budenholzer said after a film session with his players. "Ive felt good about this group all year, and I dont feel any differently now." The Hawks did plenty of good things in the first two games, winning the opener rather easily, 101-93, and positioning themselves to pull off another shocker when they built an 11-point lead in the first half Tuesday night. Suddenly, Indiana took control, outscoring the Hawks 552-27 through the rest of the half to the end of the third quarter, pretty much removing any doubt about the outcome when Paul George hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.dddddddddddd "We had to prove our point," guard Lance Stephenson said. The Pacers have won only twice at Philips Arena since December 2006, a drought that included a 13-game losing streak stretching for more than six years. But Vogel was quick to point out that Indiana has won two of its last three games in Atlanta, including a series-clinching victory in last years playoffs. "Weve won three of our last four if youre counting the preseason," he added. Indiana struggled early on in Game 2, trying to get centre Roy Hibbert more involved in the offence. When that didnt work, the Pacers turned to more familiar weapons. George scored 27 points, knocking down five 3-pointers. Point guard George Hill sparked the offence with his slashing drives into the lane, scoring 15 points over the final two quarters after going scoreless in the first half. Luis Scola provided a huge spark off the bench, scoring 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting, most of them jumpers in the 18- to 21-foot range. "He hit a lot of shots," Budenholzer said. "Credit to him. Now the challenge for us is to make those shots harder and more difficult and more challenged." The Hawks also have to figure out a way to get their point guard, Jeff Teague, to play more like he did in Game 1 (a career playoff-high 28 points) than he did in Game 2 (14 points, just two coming in the second half). The 6-foot-9 George switched over to cover the quicker player and did a marvelous job, limiting the penetration that allows Teague to set up good looks from the outside. Atlanta went 10 of 29 beyond the arc, missing 11 in a row in one stretch as the Pacers seized control. "Paul George is a very good defender no matter who he guards," Budenholzer said. "Hes going to have an impact on the game." ' ' '