Antonelli wins messy Free Practice in Montreal

The first car on the track was Aston Martin, later followed by the rest of the cars. Four minutes into the session Franco Colapinto in Alpine reported problems with his throttle but he managed to drive into the pitlane where the mechanics helped him to get into the boxes. It was probably a software issue, not a mechanical one.

Five minutes into the session Max Verstappen set the fastest lap time 1:17. 432 seconds. It was quickly beaten by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who set a time 1:16. 879 seconds. Both drivers were on hard tires.

Ten minutes after the start there was a Yellow Flag later followed by Virtual Safety Car and even a Red Flag caused by Liam Lawson who stopped on the track due to a hydraulic issue. Under the VSC Verstappen went into the boxes to get his front wing changed, probably to test another model. He also discussed his downshifting problem with his Race Engineer and reported that it is improving.

After couple of minutes the cars got back on the track and Red Bull cars topped the standings with both Mercedes’ behind. McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes exchanged the top position many times with the lap times slowly improving.

After 36 minutes Alexander Albon had a crash in Turn 7 and caused another Red Flag so the cars went into the pitlane again. The crash was caused because of a marmot which went on the track and got hit by Albon’s car.

After 15 minutes the session was resumed and all cars went back on the track. New fastest time was set by Kimi Antonelli and it was 1:14. 670 seconds on hard tires. Norris went off track on the grass in Turn 4 but the car didn’t seem to be damaged. Later, other cars repeated his mistake on the same place. 

Due to the Red Flags the session was extended by 15 minutes and with 24 minutes remaining Valtteri Bottas reported some issues and went into the boxes. Verstappen complained about the car’s performance at lower speed.

With 14 minutes remaining Mercedes started to test soft tires and Antonelli set a new fastest time 1:13. 402 seconds with teammate George Russell behind having a 0. 448 second gap.

With five minutes remaining Russell hit the wall in Turn 2. He did that really slowly and reported to the radio that the car shouldn’t be damaged. Not too long from this Esteban Ocon had a big crash in Turn 4 and caused a Red Flag.

The session was resumed only for one minute and all cars went on the track to test the starts. Antonelli won the only Free Practice with lap time 1:13.402 seconds. 

FP 1 results: 

1st – Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

2nd – George Russell (Mercedes) – +0.142

3rd – Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – +0.774

4th – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +0.953

5th – Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – +0.964

6th – Lando Norris (McLaren) – +1.397

7th – Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – +1.561

8th – Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) – +2.050

9th – Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) – +2.296

10th – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – +2.461

11th – Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) – +2.812

12th – Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing) – +2.851

13th – Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team) – +3.095

14th – Alexander Albon (Williams) – +3.240

15th – Carlos Sainz (Williams) – +3.258

16th – Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – +3.407

17th – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – +3.576

18th – Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – +4.029

19th – Oliver Bearman (Haas F1 Team) – +4.368

20th – Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) – +4.466

21st – Sergio Perez (Cadillac) – +4.524

22nd – Franco Colapinto (Alpine) – No Time