Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Verstappen leads opening practice as F1 returns to Canada
Max Verstappen topped a blustery first practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Red Bull's world champion ended the session 0.246s clear of the field after a couple of minor niggles through the hour. The first was an apparent anti-rollbar misconfiguration halfway through the session that required him to pit after three-wheeling over some curbs, and near the end of practice he complained that his power unit’s electrical deployment was clipping at the end of the straights.
Carlos Sainz was next in the order for Ferrari, just 0.1s ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso -- whose car was rapid in the flat-out third sector, which comprises just the hairpin and the final chicane. The Spaniard also used the medium tire for his fastest lap, while the rest of the field set their best times on softs.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1537898879374467072
Sergio Perez followed in fourth and 0.46s off the pace ahead of Charles Leclerc, who was a full second adrift and complained of high tire wear.
Leclerc was equipped with a new internal combustion engine, MGU-K, MGU-H and control electronics after his power unit failure last weekend in Baku, but crucially the team has avoided taking a new turbocharger by salvaging the part from his first motor. The Monegasque has already hit his turbo limit for the season and is guaranteed a penalty for it sooner rather than later.
George Russell was sixth for Mercedes, almost 0.2s back in sixth ahead of eight-placed teammate Lewis Hamilton, who’s running an experimental floor to deal with the W13’s propensity for bouncing and complained of a serious lack of rear grip throughout the session. Lance Stroll split the pair in seventh to open his home grand prix.
Sebastian Vettel followed in ninth in the second Aston Martin ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. Pierre Gasly was 11th ahead of Lando Norris, whose session was restricted to 17 laps with a technical problem that had his car on jacks well before the end of the hour.
Alex Albon was 13th for Williams ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who was running with a new power unit that will lead to him dropping back on the grid on Sunday.
Esteban Ocon lost some time early to an overheating right-front brake after some debris got caught in the brake duct. The Frenchman finished 15th, also with some new power unit parts, ahead of Alfa Romeo teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
Mick Schumacher was 18th ahead of Nicholas Latifi in his first home grand prix and Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen, who propped up the order with some new power unit parts after his DNF in Baku last weekend.
Presented by:
Michael Lamonato
Having first joined the F1 press corps in 2012 by what he assumed was administrative error, Michael has since made himself one of the few Australian regulars in the press room. Graduating in print journalism and later radio, he worked his way from community media to Australia's ABC Grandstand as an F1 broadcaster, and his voice is now heard on the official Australian Grand Prix podcast, the F1 Strategy Report and Box of Neutrals. Though he'd prefer to be recognized for his F1 expertise, in parts of hometown Melbourne his reputation for once being sick in a kart will forever precede him.
Read Michael Lamonato's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.