VERSTAPPEN ON TOP IN CANADA
Reigning Formula 1 World Champion and current championship leader Max Verstappen was fastest in both of the one-hour Friday practice sessions in Canada.
Red Bull Racing driver Verstappen edged out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the second session and the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in the first, once again it is shaping up to be a battle between the two teams.
Leclerc kept Verstappen honest in practice 2 only 0.081s behind the Dutchman.
In the quali simulation runs the Red Bull driver set a 1m 14.127s on fresh soft tyres to top the times ahead of Leclerc, with Sainz just 0.225s back in third.
Monaco Grand Prix winner Monaco Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez had a disappointing middle sector on his soft tyre run and as a result was well out of position in 11th.
In a car recently dubbed the ‘green Red Bull’ due to its similarities, four-time Sebastian Vettel ended the day fourth on the timesheets only 0.315s off the pace.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso continued his strong run of form to end the day in fifth, 0.1s off Vettel.
Pierre Gasly ran wide at the final chicane but re-joined the track the wrong side of the bollard, he was not the only driver to do so, Vettel and his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll did the same. All three are under investigation for unsafe re-joins.
Gasly ended the day in sixth ahead of the fastest Mercedes of George Russell, the Englishman well over 0.8s off the pace of the Red Bull in quali trim.
His teammate Lewis Hamilton fared even worse failing to make the top 10 in 13th 1.294s back.
Hamilton reverted to the standard floor in practice 2, rather than the version that had a hole cut into it which he ran in FP1, bringing him back in line with Russell.
McLaren’s Lando Norris slotting into eighth, making it seven different teams in the top eight positions.
Aussie Daniel Ricciardo continued his turnaround with ninth, less than half a tenth of a second behind team mate Norris.
Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 from Perez ended the day ahead of Stroll and Hamilton.
After a disappointing opening practice Kevin Magnussen rebounded to end the day in 14th just ahead of his teammate Mick Schumacher
Zhou Guanyu was 16th from Yuki Tsunoda who was only focussing on the long runs race as he will start from the back of the grid after engine penalties are applied.
Williams duo Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi were 18th and 19th respectively
Valtteri Bottas’s Friday practice woes continued as he failed to set a time. The Finn did get out on track, running three laps, but he was called back each time when the team discovered a problem, including him losing drive and coasting into the pits.
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