On the legendary Gilles-Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, Mercedes dominated the eventful first day of the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday, eighth round of the Formula 1 World Championship, by achieving the two best times thanks to the British Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
With no less than three red flags, shortened free practice and the onset of rain, the day was chaotic on Ile Notre-Dame, in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, and the capricious weather at the end of the day. -noon gave a taste of what could be in store for the drivers on Saturday in qualifying.
Early Friday afternoon, the first free practice session lasted a total of four short minutes, not allowing any driver to achieve a revealing time.
The first red flag of the day was raised after a breakdown in the Alpine of Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who spoke on the radio of a transmission problem. Ultimately, it was the aftermarket steering wheel that suffered a “minor electrical issue.”
A few minutes later, the single-seater was evacuated from the track, but a malfunction in the circuit’s video surveillance system, essential for the safety device, prevented the session from resuming.
To allow the single-seaters to have sufficient running time, the stewards agreed to the race director’s request to extend the second free practice session which finally lasted 1h30 instead of an hour.
In this complicated context, the Silver Arrows were able to do well, as did the Ferraris, while the Red Bulls, arch-dominant since the start of the season, were a little behind.
Hamilton was thus ahead of Russell by only 27 thousandths, while the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) took third place 126 thousandths behind the seven-time world champion.
The second Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, set the fourth fastest time at the wheel of his Aston Martin, just ahead of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), respectively 326 and 376 thousandths behind the Briton.
“We haven’t had a lot of time to really understand what’s new on the car so we’ll have to analyze everything tonight (Friday) and continue to learn tomorrow,” lamented the “Asturian Bull”, who is aiming for the track. Quebecer a sixth podium in eight races this season.
The Dutch double world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) has been relegated to sixth place by more than four tenths, ahead of the surprising Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), who is half a second behind Mercedes, his former team. .
“I think we still have some work to do because the car is not very comfortable over bumps and curbs. It’s not bad, but we really need to improve the settings on certain things,” said Verstappen.
Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), looking to rebound after two disappointing last races, set the eighth fastest time, ahead of stage local, Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), while Gasly completes the Top 10.
This second session was marked by two new red flags: first it was the German Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) who broke his engine just before the finish line, then the French Esteban Ocon (Alpine) stopped on the track at the request of his team for a suspected loss of water pressure.
“Obviously it was a far from simple day, so we will have to correct things so that everything is better tomorrow (Saturday) when it really counts,” said the Norman, who rode little and only picked up the 18th time.
A violent downpour then disrupted the last five minutes of the session, preventing the drivers from improving their times. The rain, which is expected on Saturday, could play spoilsport during the third free practice session, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and especially during qualifying, scheduled from 10:00 p.m. (timetable in Paris time, GMT 2).