F1 practice LIVE: Canadian Grand Prix updates and times as Max Verstappen goes fastest in FP1
Follow the first practice at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as the build-up to the Canadian Grand Prix continues
Follow live F1 coverage as the Canadian Grand Prix weekend kicks off with free practice sessions one and two in Montreal.
The big news of the week is the FIA’s decision to “reduce or eliminate” porpoising on the advice of its medical team - just days after Lewis Hamilton suffered with severe back pain in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Hamilton required assistance to get out of his Mercedes after his car bounced up and down at high speed throughout last Sunday’s race.
Mercedes ran their machines close to the ground in Baku to produce lower downforce. But the move exaggerated the bouncing, and under the FIA’s new technical directive, Mercedes might be required to raise the ride height of their cars which could further slow them down.
At the front of the grid, Max Verstappen will be hoping to extend his lead over chief title rival Charles Leclerc after he took full advantage of the Ferrari driver retiring last weekend with the race victory.
Follow all the latest updates as we build towards this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix:
Sainz on top in FP2!
Despite the advantage of taking Hamilton’s slipstream, Russell cannot improve on his time...
Sainz is first on the ledarboard but cause for optimism for Mercedes perhaps? Hamilton is second after that session, with Norris in third - the pair are less than two-tenths off the Ferrari pace-setter.
Not a bad hour for the Brits!
Russell pits for softs
A quick pit-stop from the Mercedes man, who will have one more go to put his car up the leaderboard....
Expectedly, every car now out on track - will we see any change to the leaderboard?
10 minutes to go...
George Russell is complaining of a lack of grip out on track, in response to his engineer saying he can push hard - he currently lies in eighth.
One point to note is, currently, the gap between the top-9 cars is no more than one second, with Leclerc in fifth only four-tenths off his Ferrari team-mate Sainz, who still leads the pack heading into the closing stages.
Promising signs...
15 minutes to go...
Encouraging for British fans. Hamilton is now in second, 0,163 seconds off leader Sainz while Norris is also in the top-three.
With the whole field now on softs, who will have the momentum heading into Saturday?
30 minutes to go...
We’re half-way through FP2 as the majority of the field switch to the soft tyre.
Lando Norris has just set the quickest time of the day, with Leclerc and Sainz in second and third respectively.
George Russell is now in fourth, Hamilton (on the mediums) down in ninth.
20 minutes gone...
All but one car is now in the pits.
The Ferraris are top of the timseheets with Leclerc still in first, followed by the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez.
We’ve been here before, haven’t we?
Hamilton is in fifth, while team-mate Russell is yet to set a meaningful time and is currently down in 17th.
Hamilton complaining of bouncing
The radio message no Mercedes fans want to hear. Hamilton’s team radio: “Bouncing a lot at high speed.”
Bye bye optimism. Maybe I’m speaking too soon...
Anyhow, Max Verstappen has just gone second, with Leclerc now in first and Sainz down to third.
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