FP1: Verstappen leads Albon and Sainz during first practice in Canada as Leclerc brings out red flags

Max Verstappen has topped the timesheets during the first practice hour ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver setting the pace from the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz while Charles Leclerc brought out an early red flag after hitting the barriers.

A queue of cars had already formed in the pit lane when the session got underway in mild and dry conditions, with Esteban Ocon leading the pack out on a weekend where Haas are sporting a retro livery to mark their 200th Grand Prix.

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The event is also one in which McLaren have added upgrades to their car, including the introduction of ‘mermaid tails’ to the front wing endplate. Oscar Piastri emerged from the pits sporting aero rakes on his car while Lando Norris did not, suggesting that the team were comparing the new parts against the standard.

There was an early spin in the session for Franco Colapinto, the Argentine driver briefly bringing out the yellow flags as his Alpine found itself facing the wrong way at Turn 2. Verstappen, meanwhile, was told by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase that Red Bull were “monitoring the issue” after the Dutchman reported “heavy” steering.

A few lock-ups also occurred during the early stages of FP1, with Kimi Antonelli running wide in the Mercedes before Norris also had a slight moment. But worse was to come for Leclerc, the Ferrari driver triggering the red flags after ending up in the wall at Turn 4.

Replays showed that the Monegasque had locked up and hit the corner on the left before ricocheting into the opposite barrier, prompting him to apologise over the radio. The incident was unfortunate timing for Leclerc, who had put himself at the top of the timesheets prior to the crash.

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Meanwhile another close call played out just before the red flag when Albon tried to move out of the way of an approaching Gabriel Bortoleto, only for the Williams to end up in the Brazilian’s path. The Kick Sauber took avoiding action in what looked to be a misunderstanding of who would go where.

The action showed no signs of abating when the session resumed after Leclerc’s car had been cleared, with Russell and Norris each running wide across the grass while Lewis Hamilton had a spin at Turn 10. As the halfway mark approached, Verstappen had set the pace on a 1m 13.863s, just 0.022s clear of Leclerc’s earlier benchmark.

Nico Hulkenberg – arriving into the weekend off the back of an impressive P5 last time out in Spain – had a nail-biting brush with the so-called ‘Wall of Champions’, the Kick Sauber driver fortunately avoiding any damage. Verstappen, meanwhile, was unhappy after feeling that Hamilton had not left him another space as he passed the slow-moving Ferrari, seemingly another moment of miscommunication.

As FP1 wore on and various programmes continued to play out – with only four drivers running the C5 medium tyre during the hour, the majority sticking with the C6 soft – there was another moment for Norris at Turn 10, the Briton looking to be struggling for grip.

When the chequered flag fell, it was Verstappen who had ended the session with the fastest time, the World Champion working his way down to a 1m 13.193s. This put him 0.039s ahead of Albon in second, while the other Williams of Sainz followed in third as the Grove-based outfit look to recover from their tough outing in Spain.

Russell slotted into fourth, followed by Hamilton and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar in fifth and sixth respectively. Norris took seventh, with Liam Lawson in the VCARB 02, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Leclerc completing the top 10.

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Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda (P11), the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso (P12), Antonelli (P13) and Piastri (P14) were next in the classification, while Lance Stroll – returning to action after having a procedure on his wrist – put his Aston Martin in P15. Bortoleto, the Haas duo of Ollie Bearman and Ocon, Colapinto and Hulkenberg filled the rest of the order from P16 to P20 respectively.

With the first hour of running now complete, the drivers and teams will examine their data and prepare for Friday’s second practice session, which is set to get underway at 1700 local time.