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
Position
Driver
Team
Time Gap
Laps
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:15.158
27
2
Carlos Sainz Jr
Ferrari
1:15.404 0.246
34
3
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
1:15.531 0.373
31
4
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
1:15.619 0.461
32
5
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1:15.666 0.508
30
6
George Russell
Mercedes
1:15.822 0.664
29
7
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
1:15.877 0.719
32
8
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:15.877 0.719
27
9
Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin
1:16.041 0.883
33
10
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
1:16.083 0.925
29
11
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
1:16.165 1.007
29
12
Lando Norris
McLaren
1:16.211 1.053
17
13
Alex Albon
Williams
1:16.308 1.150
29
14
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
1:16.322 1.164
33
15
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1:16.421 1.263
26
16
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
1:16.426 1.268
27
17
Guanyu Zhou
Alfa Romeo
1:17.152 1.994
30
18
Mick Schumacher
Haas
1:17.223 2.065
25
19
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
1:17.241 2.083
33
20
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1:17.555 2.397
31
