World Champion Max Verstappen led the way during opening practice upon Formula 1’s return to Canada on Friday.
Formula 1 did not compete in Canada in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic but after a three-year absence the championship has returned to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
In warm and dry conditions Verstappen clocked a time of 1:15.158s to wind up 0.246s clear of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
Fernando Alonso was an encouraging third overall for Alpine, within four-tenths of pacesetter Verstappen, and in front of Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc has taken fresh PU components after his failure in Azerbaijan but still remains within his 2022 allocation, avoiding a grid penalty for now.
Mercedes wound up sixth and eighth respectively, with George Russell in front of Lewis Hamilton, as the squad continued to assess its W13.
Aston Martin had a promising session with Montreal native Lance Stroll seventh and Sebastian Vettel ninth.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10 in a relatively uneventful one-hour session.
Pierre Gasly was the leading AlphaTauri driver in 11th spot, ahead of Lando Norris and Alexander Albon while Yuki Tsunoda classified 14th.
Tsunoda will drop to the back of the grid for Sunday’s race after exceeding his power unit allocation for the season.
Esteban Ocon had to return to the pit lane early on after his front-right brakes overheated but he was able to resume his run plan.
Ferrari’s customer teams had a low-key session with Valtteri Bottas 16th, in front of Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher, with Kevin Magnussen last of the 20 competitors.
Nicholas Latifi, competing at his home grand prix for the first time, was 19th.
Second practice is scheduled for 17:00 local time
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