CANADIAN GP – Lando Norris fastest three-tenths faster than the Ferrari’s in first practice
Lando Norris was fastest in first practice for the Canadian Grand Prix the McLaren driver set a 24.3435 which put him three-tenths faster than Carlos Sainz. The McLaren driver topped the session right at the end of the shortened session, after the first twenty minutes of the session were run effectively under a red flag.
Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari third half a second behind his teammate, while Lewis Hamilton was fourth seven tenths behind Leclerc. Leclerc had looked to be on a lap that could have put him fastest however aborted his lap after coming across traffic through the Wall of Champions section.
Hamilton had been first out on track on inters, however, running didn’t last long before a red flag came out after Guanyu Zhou lost control at Turn Five clattering his left rear into the wall. Hamilton has taken a new power unit for this weekend.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull fifth the three-time champion over half a second behind Hamilton and a quarter of a second faster than Oscar Piastri. The Dutchman was one of several drivers to make a mistake through Turns Seven-Eight. Red Bull go into this weekend expecting to be challenged having been beaten in Miami and Monaco.
Verstappen comes into the weekend with Ferrari and McLaren expected to seriously challenge Red Bull, who could be on the back foot again due to their apparent weakness with kerbs.
Limiting running was always expected given the limited number of wet tyres with more rain forecast throughout the weekend, which could further mix things up come qualifying and the race.
Piastri was eight-tenths faster than Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas, while Sergio Perez was nearly three-tenths behind he Sauber with George Russell completing the top ten. The top ten being covered by four seconds, while that appears to be a bigger gap than normal, there are various factors behind that with the weather and new track surface.
Daniel Ricciardo missed out on the top ten by four hundredths as he went just over a tenth faster than RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The two Haas’ were just behind Kevin Magnussen three and a half tenths behind with his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, nearly four seconds behind.
Fernando Alonso was over half a second behind Hulkenberg, while his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll was seventeenth nearly four seconds behind Stroll. While Logan Sargeant was sixteenth, halfway between the two Aston Martin’s.
Jack Doohan who is one of the favourites to replace Esteban Ocon, after he announced he would leave the team, didn’t put a time on the board. Also not setting a time was Zhou following his contact with the wall.