Mercedes led the way in the first practice session of F1 Canadian GP with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third.
It was quite dusty at Montreal circuit to start the F1 Canadian GP weekend in the FP1 session as Hamilton (1m12.767s) led the way from Mercedes teammate Bottas (1m12.914s), while Ferrari’s Leclerc (1m13.720s) was third.
With the track getting better and better after every run, the Hamilton actually set the pace on the medium compound despite having run the soft tyres early in the session. The Ferrari drivers only ran the medium compound all-through along with Red Bull Racing.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (1m13.755s) in fact split the two Ferraris with Sebastian Vettel (1m13.905s) in fifth, after the German had a spin at the hairpin. Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m13.945s) had a better run on the soft compound to be sixth.
His teammate Antonio Giovinazzi caused a Virtual Safety Car period when he clipped the wall at Turn 9 after running over the sasuage kerb on the entry. The Italian only ran the medium compound to be 14th with a best of 1m14.582s.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m13.973s) was seventh with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m14.123s) eighth – both also setting their best time on the medium compound. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m14.172s) slotted in ninth.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m14.202s) rounded out the Top 10 with McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m14.246s) in 11th – the latter only running the hard compound. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m14.474s) finished 12th from Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly (1m14.570s).
The Frenchman only used medium compound as well with Giovinazzi following him from Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m14.645s), who had a scrappy session which included paint sticking to his tyres at one point when he ventured from the garage.
It was a slow start for Toro Rosso with Alexander Albon (1m14.703s) in 16th and Daniil Kvyat (1m15.343s) 18th with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m14.812s) slotting in 17th. Williams’ George Russell (1m15.989s) was 19th.
He led Williams reserve and FP1 stand-in for Robert Kubica, Nicholas Latifi (1m16.199s), who nearly ran into a groundhog at the start of the session, in his first run for the Grove-based team during a F1 weekend.
