A violent hailstorm preceded the start of the first free practice session of the Canadian GP. The session started at the scheduled time, but with the pit lane closed to give the marshals a chance to dry up the most dangerous puddles. The first to take to the track after 24 minutes was Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes, praised by thunderous applause. The new asphalt dried very quickly so it is difficult to draw any useful indications because in the final part of the session the riders were even able to mount slick tyres.
The fastest was Lando Norris with the McLaren capable of 1’24″453: the Englishman with the MCL38 put the two Ferrarus of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc behind him who had already stood out in the wet. The gaps did not sense (the last one who managed to complete a lap had the advantage), but it should be highlighted that the Scuderia gathered good information in 11 laps, i.e. the longest distance traveled together with Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber.
Speaking of the Swiss team, Guanyu Zhou’s accident in the middle of the session should be noted: the Chinese lost the C44 due to aquaplaning and was unable to avoid hitting the wall with his two left wheels. Zhou was unable to get to a safety stand and the round was stopped with a red flag. After about 10 minutes the engines were started again: only 17 of the 20 pilots closed the time. In addition to Guanyu, Alexander Albon remained with Williams and Jack Doohan who was longing for his debut in F1 with the Alpine vacated by Esteban Ocon.
The son of the five-time world champion in the MotoGP, Mick, was kept in the garage as a precaution and did not have the opportunity to ride except to carry out a test start after the session was over: the Alpine team managed to remedy yet another bad figure this season.
At the end of the session, Ferrari dared to do some aerodynamic tests by putting flow viz paint on the rear wing and the beam wing. Red Bull also carried out tests to check the bending of the front suspension rod: Max Verstappen, fifth, author of a long run when the track was drying, did not seek performance, so it should not be surprising if he finds himself ahead of Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton immediately at ease with the difficult conditions.
The two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were only seen in action in the final quarter of an hour. Behind Verstappen came Oscar Piastri with McLaren who preceded Pierre Gasly with the best Alpine. Valtteri Bottas with the Sauber and Sergio Perez with the second RB20. The top 10 was closed by George Russell who was ahead of the two Racing Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda.
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