Kimi Antonelli happily picked up the pace again in Montreal. The leader in the world championship recorded the fastest time on Friday evening during the first free practice (FP1) for the Canadian GP, ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell. Max Verstappen remains stuck in fifth place. There is also a remarkable cameo role for a Canadian groundhog.

The free practice at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Île de Notre-Dame lasts as usual about an hour. At the start, under a pleasant sunny sky, the track is immediately busy, as drivers and teams want to make the most of the limited time. For Franco Colapinto (Alpine), however, the session is short-lived. After just three minutes, he slowly drives into the pits due to a problem with the accelerator pedal. Max Verstappen immediately finds good speed and after ten minutes leads the timesheet with three purple sectors (1:15.895).

Red flag Liam Lawson

Soon after, the red flag appears for the first time. The culprit is the power steering of Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson’s car, which fails in turn 4. The race control then announces that the session will be extended by four minutes to compensate for lost time, knowing that teams can use every minute. After all, since there is again a sprint race on the program in Canada, the first free practice is also the only one, so drivers are keen to find the optimal setup and energy management strategy for the sprint qualifying (Friday evening, at 22:30 Dutch time).

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For Red Bull, the session is also about testing different front wings. Furthermore, Max Verstappen reports that downshifting is significantly smoother than earlier this season, when he repeatedly complained about it. But shortly after, the old problems resurface again.

Groundhog foils Albon

After the restart, Verstappen’s fastest time is improved by Mercedes driver George Russell, and it seems the swapping of positions on the rapidly evolving track has begun. But it doesn’t last long, as Alexander Albon crashes his Williams hard into the wall due to a crossing groundhog, causing the second red flag. The damage looks significant, especially at the rear of the car. Again, the FIA decides to compensate for the lost time.

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With about twenty minutes left on the clock, Mercedes puts on the red tires. Russell immediately smashes the fastest time at that moment (Antonelli’s), but his Italian teammate and championship leader quickly sets things straight and dives well under Russell’s time by almost half a second. In the final phase, Max Verstappen also returns to the top five on the soft compound. With his time, he concedes almost a second to Antonelli.

George Russell ends the session with a trip through the grass in turn 1, lightly touching the wall. The Brit escapes unscathed. That is not the case a few seconds later for Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman provides a dramatic finale to FP1 by destroying the front wing of his Haas car. This causes the third red flag and the end of the session.

Top-10 FP1: Antonelli (1:23.402), Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen (1:14.366), Norris, Piastri, Lindblad, Hülkenberg, Alonso.