Canada, first day signed by Mercedes with Hamilton and Russell. Good Ferrari, Sainz 3rd

In Montreal, the first free practice saw Red Bull’s rivals perform well: Lewis and George preceded the Spaniard from Cavallino, Alonso and Leclerc. Verstappen 6th, heavy rain in the final

– Montreal (Canada)

A 90-minute super session has said Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin want to try and make themselves heard against Red Bull in Canada. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell set the fastest time of day one in Montreal ahead of Carlos Sainz’s red, Fernando Alonso’s Aston and Charles Leclerc’s second red. Sixth time trial for world champion Max Verstappen.

with pliers

But it’s a first day that needs to be taken with a grain of salt because free practice 1 didn’t take place due to a breakdown in a station on the closed circuit. In reality, the first session lasted 6 minutes, then there was an interruption to remove Pierre Gasly’s Alpine which had remained in cream and then they never started again, precisely due to a fault in the television circuit which the technicians were not aware of. managed to sync. The best time was set by Valtteri Bottas in 1’18”728 ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso and the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. But these were absolutely non-indicative times because no one was able to complete the work programme.

signals

So everyone had to give it their all in the second session which the FIA ​​wisely decided to extend by 30 minutes. Therefore, in the 90 minutes of work, the teams carried out qualifying and race pace simulations that were difficult to decipher, also because the risk of rain is very high tomorrow and therefore qualifying could be held in totally different conditions. The Mercedes took the lead showing that the improvement process is underway, the Ferraris showed good single lap speed, the Aston Martin is always lurking. Signals for Red Bull?

alpine problems

The one who certainly suffered was the Alpine, which saw the cars of Gasly and Ocon both stop on the track due to a technical problem, one per session. Problems also for Hulkenebrg, whose Ferrari engine went up in smoke in the middle of the straight. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the redheads of Leclerc and Sainz decided to change the endothermic unit this weekend. Tomorrow free 3 at 18.30 and qualifying at 22.



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