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Charles Bradley

F1 Grand Prix practice results: Verstappen fastest in Canadian GP on Friday

Verstappen was fastest in both FP1 and FP2 in Montreal, with his Ferrari rivals Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc taking it in turns to be second. Leclerc ended the day 0.081s slower in FP2.

Canadian Grand Prix FP1 results: Verstappen fastest from Sainz

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 27 1'15.158     208.887
2 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 34 1'15.404 0.246 0.246 208.206
3 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 31 1'15.531 0.373 0.127 207.856
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 32 1'15.619 0.461 0.088 207.614
5 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 30 1'15.666 0.508 0.047 207.485
6 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 29 1'15.822 0.664 0.156 207.058
7 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 32 1'15.877 0.719 0.055 206.908
8 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 27 1'15.877 0.719 0.000 206.908
9 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 33 1'16.041 0.883 0.164 206.462
10 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 29 1'16.083 0.925 0.042 206.348
11 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 29 1'16.165 1.007 0.082 206.126
12 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 17 1'16.211 1.053 0.046 206.001
13 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 29 1'16.308 1.150 0.097 205.739
14 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 33 1'16.322 1.164 0.014 205.702
15 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 26 1'16.421 1.263 0.099 205.435
16 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 27 1'16.426 1.268 0.005 205.422
17 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 30 1'17.152 1.994 0.726 203.489
18 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 25 1'17.223 2.065 0.071 203.302
19 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 33 1'17.241 2.083 0.018 203.254
20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 31 1'17.555 2.397 0.314 202.431

What happened in Canadian GP Free Practice 1?

Verstappen set the early pace during a long run on medium tyres – starting off at 1m17.991s and working down to 1m15.703s after 13 minutes. Perez just topped him by 0.043s with 1m15.660s.

Sainz was third at this point, 0.74s down on mediums, with Leclerc fourth, 0.84s off on softs.

Neither Perez nor Verstappen improved on softs at first – Max not helped by a rogue setup issue that sent him straight back into the pits. Sainz jumped to the top with 1m15.441s, and Perez responded with 1m15.619s to go P2.

Verstappen’s first proper go on the softs produced 1m15.158s with 20 minutes remaining. Sainz improved to get within a quarter of a second of the pace but then had a very near miss with a groundhog.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso got to within 0.373s of the fastest time to take third on medium tyres, ahead of Perez and Leclerc – everyone else setting their best times on softs. George Russell ended the session in sixth for Mercedes, ahead of local hero Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Aston) and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren).

There were no late improvements as teams were keen to run high fuel loads due to the threat of rain in FP2.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was delayed by a front-right brake issue, after its duct injected a paper towel.

Canadian Grand Prix FP2 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 33 1'14.127     211.793
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 32 1'14.208 0.081 0.081 211.562
3 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 32 1'14.352 0.225 0.144 211.152
4 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 35 1'14.442 0.315 0.090 210.897
5 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 24 1'14.543 0.416 0.101 210.611
6 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 34 1'14.879 0.752 0.336 209.666
7 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 31 1'14.971 0.844 0.092 209.408
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 30 1'14.987 0.860 0.016 209.364
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 31 1'15.033 0.906 0.046 209.235
10 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 32 1'15.119 0.992 0.086 208.996
11 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 29 1'15.167 1.040 0.048 208.862
12 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 34 1'15.396 1.269 0.229 208.228
13 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 25 1'15.421 1.294 0.025 208.159
14 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 34 1'15.499 1.372 0.078 207.944
15 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 35 1'15.516 1.389 0.017 207.897
16 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 31 1'15.526 1.399 0.010 207.870
17 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 37 1'15.567 1.440 0.041 207.757
18 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 30 1'16.171 2.044 0.604 206.109
19 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 27 1'16.509 2.382 0.338 205.199
20 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 3        

What happened in Canadian GP Free Practice 2?

Verstappen set the bar on mediums at 1m15.618s, 0.77s up on Perez, and then improved to 1m15.096s, two tenths up on Leclerc, who had risen to P2.

Verstappen dipped into the 1m14s bracket with a 1m14.792s, then went faster again with 1m14.532s – still on mediums – versus Leclerc’s 14.830s on softs. Sainz – who was suffering major bouncing issues – improved to third on mediums, 0.455s off the pace.

Verstappen’s first soft run produced 1m14.127s, to which Leclerc responded with a 1m14.208s, 0.081s down. Sainz again moved up to third, albeit 0.225s down.

Vettel was an impressive fourth, three tenths off the pace, a tenth ahead of Alonso and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. Russell was seventh, ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren), Ricciardo and Ocon.

Perez was a lacklustre 11th in this session, over a second off the pace.

Valtteri Bottas suffered an apparent transmission issue that forced him into the pits, while a virtual safety car was briefly required for a marshal to retrieve a beer can from the track.

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