Verstappen fastest in Canadian GP on Friday

Verstappen was fastest in both FP1 and FP2 in Montreal, with his Ferrari rivals Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc taking it in turns to be second. Leclerc ended the day 0.081s slower in FP2.

Canadian Grand Prix FP1 results: Verstappen fastest from Sainz

What happened in Canadian GP Free Practice 1?

Verstappen set the early pace during a long run on medium tyres – starting off at 1m17.991s and working down to 1m15.703s after 13 minutes. Perez just topped him by 0.043s with 1m15.660s.

Sainz was third at this point, 0.74s down on mediums, with Leclerc fourth, 0.84s off on softs.

Neither Perez nor Verstappen improved on softs at first – Max not helped by a rogue setup issue that sent him straight back into the pits. Sainz jumped to the top with 1m15.441s, and Perez responded with 1m15.619s to go P2.

Verstappen’s first proper go on the softs produced 1m15.158s with 20 minutes remaining. Sainz improved to get within a quarter of a second of the pace but then had a very near miss with a groundhog.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso got to within 0.373s of the fastest time to take third on medium tyres, ahead of Perez and Leclerc – everyone else setting their best times on softs. George Russell ended the session in sixth for Mercedes, ahead of local hero Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Aston) and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren).

There were no late improvements as teams were keen to run high fuel loads due to the threat of rain in FP2.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was delayed by a front-right brake issue, after its duct injected a paper towel.

Canadian Grand Prix FP2 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc

What happened in Canadian GP Free Practice 2?

Verstappen set the bar on mediums at 1m15.618s, 0.77s up on Perez, and then improved to 1m15.096s, two tenths up on Leclerc, who had risen to P2.

Verstappen dipped into the 1m14s bracket with a 1m14.792s, then went faster again with 1m14.532s – still on mediums – versus Leclerc’s 14.830s on softs. Sainz – who was suffering major bouncing issues – improved to third on mediums, 0.455s off the pace.

Verstappen’s first soft run produced 1m14.127s, to which Leclerc responded with a 1m14.208s, 0.081s down. Sainz again moved up to third, albeit 0.225s down.

Vettel was an impressive fourth, three tenths off the pace, a tenth ahead of Alonso and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. Russell was seventh, ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren), Ricciardo and Ocon.

Perez…