C’est finalement Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) qui termine premier des essais libres du vendredi en vue du Grand Prix du Canada. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) est 2e, suivi de Nico Rosberg (Mercedes). On retrouve ensuite Mark Webber (Red Bull) et Felipe Massa (Ferrari).
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:16.877 | 32 | |
| 2 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:16.963 | 0.086 | 35 |
| 3 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:17.151 | 0.274 | 34 |
| 4 | 6 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:17.273 | 0.396 | 33 |
| 5 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:17.401 | 0.524 | 33 |
| 6 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:17.415 | 0.538 | 28 |
| 7 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:17.522 | 0.645 | 29 |
| 8 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:17.529 | 0.652 | 36 |
| 9 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:17.688 | 0.811 | 34 |
| 10 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:17.903 | 1.026 | 35 |
| 11 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:17.961 | 1.084 | 33 |
| 12 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:18.385 | 1.508 | 27 |
| 13 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:18.447 | 1.570 | 41 |
| 14 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:18.582 | 1.705 | 40 |
| 15 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:18.658 | 1.781 | 34 |
| 16 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:19.142 | 2.265 | 38 |
| 17 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:19.168 | 2.291 | 32 |
| 18 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:19.274 | 2.397 | 41 |
| 19 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:19.969 | 3.092 | 35 |
| 20 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:20.879 | 4.002 | 29 |
| 21 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:21.097 | 4.220 | 31 |
| 22 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:21.346 | 4.469 | 11 |
| 23 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:21.488 | 4.611 | 25 |
| 24 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:21.577 | 4.700 | 30 |