First Canadian GP practice canceled due to CCTV failure

First practice at the Canadian Grand Prix has been called off after less than five minutes of running due to a local closed-circuit television failure.

The CCTV system is used by race control for safety and stewarding purposes but failed shortly after the start of FP1. The failure coincided with a red flag caused by Pierre Gasly stopping on track between Turns 7 and 8 with a clutch problem that left him without drive.

The Frenchman’s stopped car was recovered quickly (pictured above), but the session resumption was delayed and subsequently abandoned due to the TV failure.

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“The CCTV is not synced correctly, and until the issue has been fixed, we cannot run on track,” the FIA said in a statement. “This system is a local installation and they are continuing to work to resolve the problem.”

It was resolved that FP2 will start half an hour early and extend the session by 30 minutes to compensate teams for lost track time. However, the forecast risk of rain is higher this afternoon than it was for the abandoned first practice session.

All but Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had completed at least one installation lap before the red flag. Valtteri Bottas led Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso at the top of the order, but no driver set a representative lap time.

Both Ferrari drivers left pit lane with new internal combustion engines, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon started the weekend with new complete power units, and both Red Bull Racing drivers were equipped with new exhausts.