Canada – Free Practice 1: No Mistakes and Best Time for Verstappen, Stroll in the Wall!

The weather will not disrupt this first free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix, a race always highly appreciated by drivers with a festive atmosphere in the stands and in the city of Montreal, but also with a track that is always very fast and interesting for the 20 participants.

Just like in Monaco fifteen days ago, Pirelli has chosen to bring its softest compounds, namely the Hyper, Ultra, and Super soft tires. At Force India, Sergio Pérez is sidelined to give the local, Nicholas Latifi, his first session at the wheel of a Formula 1 car.

The first significant times are still awaited. The non-permanent track is very dirty, making it difficult for drivers to handle. Sergey Sirotkin is the first to set a time of 1:23.556 and then 1:18.798 with his Williams, quickly and widely beaten by Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull and Fernando Alonso putting his McLaren on top with a time of 1:15.240.

After half an hour of the session, the Virtual Safety Car and then the red flag were deployed following an issue encountered by Nico Hülkenberg. The German’s Renault had a gearbox problem and had to stop on track. It took the track marshals about ten minutes to evacuate it before the session could resume.

“Where to, Mr Hulk?”

The Renault is being recovered from the back straight#F1 🇨🇦 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/af0yULqjew

— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 juin 2018

The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, in that order, took the top two spots with Ultra soft tires. But Max Verstappen, on Hyper soft tires, clocked the fastest time at 1.13.302, less than a tenth ahead of the Silver Arrows.

The track is still green, and some drivers are having difficulty keeping their car on track, like Lance Stroll, who hits the famous “Wall of Champions” with his right rear wheel. With a bent suspension, the Canadian returns to the pits and won’t come back out for this session.

Note that in the last chicane, the organizers decided to install orange bollards to deter drivers from cutting the trajectory. The slightest deviation in this part of the circuit could be fatal…

As usual on Fridays, the Ferraris are lagging in the standings. Kimi Räikkönen is 5th, four-tenths off Verstappen’s best time, and Sebastian Vettel is 7th, eight-tenths off. Both red cars are equipped with Hyper soft tires. In fact, in the provisional Top 10, only the Mercedes and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, in 5th, did not set their best times with the softest compounds.

With 5 minutes to go, Marcus Ericsson made a mistake in the second sector and lost his Sauber facing the wrong way on the track, while Pierre Gasly broke into the top 10 with his Toro Rosso on a circuit he is discovering for the first time. The other French drivers, Esteban Ocon in his Force India and Romain Grosjean in his Haas, are right behind in 11th and 12th places.

Marcus Ericsspin 👀

The Sauber man ends up facing the wrong way in Sector 2#F1 🇨🇦 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/V7jraRI5N5

— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 juin 2018

Sirotkin, attacking with a very unstable Williams, also makes a mistake and hits the tire wall quite violently but without too much damage, as the Russian manages to continue and bring his car back to the pits.

The end of the session is enlivened by Alonso and Räikkönen who practice overtaking at the end of the straight, to the advantage of the McLaren driver.

The full ranking of FP1:

Red Bull and Mercedes lead the way in our first session of the weekend#F1 🇨🇦 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/U6F80kci0s

— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 juin 2018