Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in the first practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix with a blistering time of 1:14.755, almost half a second quicker than last year’s FP1 time.
Nico Rosberg finished second in the other Mercedes three-tenths of a second off his teammate’s pace, while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel put in a fast lap late in the session to go third.
Only a handful of registered laps had been completed within the first 25 minutes when Felipe Massa brought out the red flag after crashing at Turn 1. The Brazilian lost control of his Williams at the end of the main straight and was sent into a spin where his rear smashed into the barrier.
Massa radioed his team once his car had come to a stop complaining that he had lost control once his DRS had deactivated, although replays suggested that the Brazilian may have taken too much track and touched the grass heading into the corner.
The session was restarted with 53 minutes to run and a queue of cars took to the track to set their initial lap times.
Kimi Räikkönen held the top spot as the session restarted followed by Valtteri Bottas, when Carlos Sainz put his Toro Rosso into the top three just under four-tenths of a second off Räikkönen’s early benchmark.
Rosberg was quick to put in his best lap which saw him go fastest on the ultra-soft tyre, although his teammate Hamilton soon demoted him to second with an impressive lap of 1:14.980 on the super-soft tyre.
The Briton then improved another two tenths while Max Verstappen registered his best time to put his Red Bull third.
Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg was another driver to post a fast lap in the later stages of the session to finish in seventh position ahead of Sainz and teammate Sergio Pérez.
Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten, just under two seconds off Hamilton’s benchmark, while his McLaren teammate Jenson Button experienced power-unit troubles with five minutes left in the session which saw his garage fill with smoke before the team sent him out for his final run.
FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2016 – FREE PRACTICE 1 SESSION RESULTS | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Driver | Team / Entry | Result | Laps | |||
1. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W07 Hybrid | 1:14.755 | 22 | |
2. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W07 Hybrid | + 0.331 | 30 | |
3. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H | + 0.488 | 22 | |
4. | Max Verstappen | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB12 | + 0.798 | 29 | |
5. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H | + 0.863 | 23 | |
6. | Valtteri Bottas | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW38 | + 1.546 | 30 | |
7. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM09 | + 1.709 | 24 | |
8. | Carlos Sainz Jr | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR11 | + 1.788 | 21 | |
9. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM09 | + 1.822 | 25 | |
10. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
McLaren-Honda MP4-31 | + 1.908 | 18 | |
11. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB12 | + 1.979 | 28 | |
12. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren-Honda MP4-31 | + 2.033 | 8 | |
13. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
Haas F1 Ferrari VF-16 | + 2.253 | 22 | |
14. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW38 | + 2.310 | 7 | |
15. | Daniil Kvyat | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR11 | + 2.555 | 24 | |
16. | Esteban Gutiérrez | ![]() |
Haas F1 Ferrari VF-16 | + 2.564 | 24 | |
17. | Felipe Nasr | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C35 | + 3.100 | 21 | |
18. | Rio Haryanto | ![]() |
Manor Racing Mercedes MRT5 | + 3.348 | 21 | |
19. | Marcus Ericsson | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C35 | + 3.374 | 8 | |
20. | Kevin Magnussen | ![]() |
Renault Sport F1 Team RS16 | + 3.654 | 13 | |
21. | Pascal Wehrlein | ![]() |
Manor Racing Mercedes MRT5 | + 3.698 | 30 | |
22. | Jolyon Palmer | ![]() |
Renault Sport F1 Team RS16 | + 3.828 | 28 |
Image via XPB Images
Josh Kruse
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