F1 Canadian GP: Max Verstappen leads as Charles Leclerc crashes in FP1

First practice at a relatively cool, but sunny, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was marked by a plethora of spins and twitches for many drivers as the track proved to be lacking in grip and tricky to drive on. 

An innocuous spin by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto into Turn 2, on his very first flyer, foreshadowed what would be a messy one-hour session.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc went quickest in the opening stages, but his session ended after 15 minutes when he locked up his front-right tyre and understeered into the wall at Turn 3, destroying his Ferrari’s front-left corner. That accident caused a brief red flag.

Leclerc apologised to the team for what he labelled a driver error, but the Monegasque was far from the only driver to slip up.

Mercedes driver George Russell and McLaren’s Lando Norris were also seen going into the grass after a twitch, but both managed to keep it out of the wall. Meanwhile, Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton made a full spin at Montreal’s hairpin.

After the interruption, Russell went top with a 1m13.535s on Pirelli’s softest tyre, which is the same C6 compound used in Imola and Monaco, with Russell lowering an earlier benchmark by Verstappen.

Verstappen then retaliated with a 1m13.193s after Williams’ Carlos Sainz briefly appeared at the top, while the second Williams of Alex Albon split the two drivers. It looked like a very promising opening session for the Grove team, although team principal James Vowles admitted to Sky that his team was running a different programme and was therefore further up than it deserved to be.

In the final 10 minutes of the session, nobody got close to Verstappen and the two Williams cars. The Dutchman led FP1 by 0.039s over Albon, although he suffered a scare and nearly collided with the infamous Wall of Champions on the outside of the final chicane.

Behind third-placed Sainz, Russell’s earlier benchmark was still good enough for fourth, followed by Hamilton, who went straight at the chicane in the final minutes of the session.

Isack Hadjar was sixth on another strong start for Racing Bulls, followed by the first McLaren of Norris who clocked the quickest second sector in the dying minutes, and team-mate Liam Lawson.

Pierre Gasly was the last driver to beat Leclerc’s early effort in ninth, with the Ferrari man rounding out the top 10.

Second practice follows at 5pm local Montreal time. 

F1 Canadian GP results – FP1

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Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	28	1’13.193		S	214.495
2	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	28	+0.039 1’13.232	0.039	S	214.381
3	C. SainzWilliams	55		Williams	Mercedes	31	+0.082 1’13.275	0.043	S	214.255
4	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	29	+0.342 1’13.535	0.260	S	213.498
5	L. HamiltonFerrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	30	+0.427 1’13.620	0.085	S	213.251
6	I. HadjarRacing Bulls	6		RB	Honda	31	+0.438 1’13.631	0.011	S	213.219
7	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	30	+0.458 1’13.651	0.020	S	213.162
8	L. LawsonRacing Bulls	30		RB	Honda	30	+0.544 1’13.737	0.086	S	212.913
9	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	29	+0.624 1’13.817	0.080	S	212.682
10	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	9	+0.692 1’13.885	0.068	S	212.486
11	Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	27	+0.734 1’13.927	0.042	S	212.366
12	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	25	+0.779 1’13.972	0.045	S	212.237
13	A. AntonelliMercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	30	+0.809 1’14.002	0.030	S	212.151
14	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	28	+1.005 1’14.198	0.196	S	211.590
15	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	25	+1.010 1’14.203	0.005	S	211.576
16	G. BortoletoSauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	30	+1.131 1’14.324	0.121	S	211.231
17	O. BearmanHaas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	30	+1.327 1’14.520	0.196	S	210.676
18	E. OconHaas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	23	+1.412 1’14.605	0.085	S	210.436
19	F. ColapintoAlpine	43		Alpine	Renault	29	+1.452 1’14.645	0.040	S	210.323
20	N. HulkenbergSauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	28	+1.628 1’14.821	0.176	S	209.828
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