Sebastian Vettel is in the company of the great drivers in Formula One history — not just by winning the 2010 world championship, but also by crashing into the legendary

Sebastian Vettel had his practice runat the Canadian Grand Prix at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit cut short after only eight laps on yesteriday when he lost control the 14th turn and hit the same wall that earned its nickame, “Wall of Champions” after F1 champions Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill all left their mark on it.

Vettel, who has won five of the first six races on the schedule this year, did not appear to be hurt. He got out of the car on his own and walked to the safety van, while his car was lifted by a crane and removed from the course.

The runaway points leader in Formula One this season, was trying to navigate a quick right-left combination turn — the final one on the circuit — when he skidded and hit the wall with the right front tire. Debris from his car was scattered over the track, bringing practice to a brief halt.

Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes had the fastest time in the first practice session, completing his best lap in 1 minute, 15.591 seconds. Fernando Alonso, of Ferrari, was 0.548 seconds behind him and Schumacher was 0.958 seconds behind Rosberg, his Mercedes teammate. Another session was scheduled for the afternoon.

Hamilton, who has won the Canadian GP twice of the last three times, was sixth-fastest, 1.251 seconds behind Rosberg. Hamilton was in Montreal after avoiding a threatened six-race ban by apologizing to the sport’s governing body and to his fellow drivers after a series of outbursts at Monaco on May 29.

Hamilton was given penalties after colliding with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado as he attempted to pass them on the narrow Monaco circuit. The British driver called his two rivals “ridiculous” and also criticized stewards after the race for imposing the penalties.

“I had some time to reflect on my behaviour and my weekend and again, I had a feeling of it just being a bad day, a bad weekend in the office,” Hamilton said. “So I wrote a letter to the FIA to apologize, and I also spoke to the drivers. I just felt it was necessary to do that, I think it was the right thing for me to do and to be able to put everything behind me.”

Hamilton described himself as a passionate driver along the lines of Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna, but said he would work on keeping his emotions under control.

“I would prefer not to be up at the stewards’ office so often — and trust me, I’m trying my hardest to stay out of there,” Hamilton said. “My whole life, I was always in the headmaster’s office so I’m used to it. I would just try to improve and learn from the situations that I get myself into.”