Canadian GP: Max Verstappen leads Carlos Sainz in Practice 1

Max Verstappen set the early pace in Practice 1 as Formula 1 returned to the track in Canada for the first time in three years.

With the session taking place at the scheduled race time on Sunday, plus a threat of rain later in the day, teams opted to run a program more typical to FP2 with a soft tyre run followed by a race simulation in the final 15 minutes.

And it was Verstappen who managed the best lap on the red-striped compound, posting a 1m15.158s.

Carlos Sainz ran second for Ferrari ahead of Fernando Alonso in third on the medium tyres for Alpine.

Sergio Perez also set his best lap on the mediums in fourth, while Charles Leclerc was fifth.

Mercedes ran different floors on their cars with George Russell in sixth using a Baku-spec floor, while Lewis Hamilton was eighth with a revised design including a large cut-out to try and reduce the porpoising.

Canadian-owned Aston Martin made a strong start as Montreal native Lance Stroll finished seventh on the same time as Hamilton, almost two-tenths faster than teammate Sebastian Vettel in ninth.

After a better weekend in Baku, Daniel Ricciardo was the lead McLaren in P10. However, a problem for Lando Norris limited the Briton to just 17 laps while others surpassed 30 tours of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Pierre Gasly was 11th, ahead of Norris and Alex Albon, who looked more competitive in 13th for Williams.

Yuki Tsunoda had the biggest brush with the barriers at Turn 9 but continued en route to 14th.

Esteban Ocon suffered a front-right brake failure early on after debris covered the cooling duct but was able to complete a relatively normal session albeit only 15th fastest.

The two Alfa Romeos were 16th and 17th ahead of Mick Schumacher, F1’s other hometown driver Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen bringing up the field.

Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below: