Canadian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: The longest session
Aston Martin arrived in Canada with luggage full of improvements. However, Lawrence Stroll's team didn't have time to unpack everything before the session was interrupted by a red flag. Due to a technical issue on the track, the session never resumed.
1, 2, 3, stop! The first red flag of the weekend took only 5 minutes to appear. Just like in Azerbaijan, the red LED lights around the track activated due to a problem with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. It was during his warm-up lap that the French driver complained on the radio about not having any transmission anymore. Like a scientist stuck in his calculations, Gasly played with the buttons on his steering wheel hoping to get his car running again, but nothing worked. He was condemned to spend the FP1 in the garage.
If Pierre Gasly’s car was quickly extracted, another specific problem prevented the session from resuming. After 20 minutes of waiting, the FIA announced that an issue with the surveillance cameras made it impossible for the cars to leave the pit lane. With 10 minutes of remaining session, he was informed that the problem would take time to be resolved, and therefore the session wouldn’t restart. Pierre Gasly can rejoice in being on equal footing with the rest of the grid despite his mechanical problem.
The second free practice session is therefore moved forward to 10:30 PM in order to allow it to be extended by 30 minutes and thus overcome the lack of running for the cars. However, with the potential risk of rain, teams may not have benefited from an ideal preparation at the start of the Grand Prix weekend.
