Lewis Hamilton has ended the opening practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend on top of the timesheets, as Mercedes holds a large gap to its rivals.
Hamilton’s lap time of 1:12.767 was almost one second faster than Charles Leclerc in P3, while the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was in second place, behind his teammate.
However, the day didn’t end smoothly for Bottas, as he was hit with a reported loss of fuel pressure in the final minutes of the session.
Dusty circuit makes for a slow start
The day was slow to get underway, as the track surface was noticeably dusty – all drivers appeared to be struggling for grip throughout the 90-minute session.
The dust was still present on the racing line when the chequered flag fell, however there were plenty of cars out on the circuit to sweep the dust and debris up.
Max Verstappen ended the session in fourth place, splitting the Ferrari duo and Sebastian Vettel was fifth, 1.1 seconds down on pace-setter Hamilton. Vettel’s former teammate Kimi Raikkonen was sixth, 0.050s slower than the German.
Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.767 31 laps
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.147s 25 laps
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.953s 24 laps
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 0.988s 26 laps
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1.138s 28 laps
6 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1.178s 29 laps
7 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1.206s 34 laps
8 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1.356s 31 laps
9 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1.405s 30 laps
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1.435s 32 laps
11 Lando Norris McLaren 1.479s 33 laps
12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1.707s 30 laps
13 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1.803s 27 laps
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1.815s 17 laps
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1.878s 31 laps
16 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1.936s 36 laps
17 Lance Stroll Racing Point 2.045s 32 laps
18 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 2.576s 32 laps
19 George Russell Williams 3.222s 29 laps
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams 3.432s 33 laps
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