Lewis Hamilton topped an abrasive First Practice session in Montreal, ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton's time of a 1:13.809 bettered Vettel's best efforts by nearly two-tenths, with Bottas breathing down the German's neck. Kimi Raikkonen was in reaching distance of the top three, whilst Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon helped Force India beat both of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

On a green and dirty track, drivers took a while to find grip around the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, with several spins and excursions seen throughout the session.

Just four minutes in, Carlos Sainz' morning came to an abrupt end, his Toro Rosso smoking due to an engine failure coming out of the hairpin. The frustrated Spaniard's problems continue.

Despite holding first and third at the half-hour mark, both Ferraris struggled with grip early on. Raikkonen pirouetted on the exit of Turn 7 whilst getting on the power, whilst Vettel saw his rear wheels overtake his front ones going into Turn 2.

Raikkonen initially struggled with grip. | Photo: Getty Images/Clive Mason
Raikkonen initially struggled with grip. | Photo: Getty Images/Clive Mason

They weren't the only ones searching for purchase on the dirty track, Hamilton slithered wide at Turn 6 and Nico Hulkenberg bypassed the last chicane. The German also copied Raikkonen's off at Turn 7.

Excursions aside, Raikkonen topped the timing sheets early on, less than a tenth quicker than Vettel, with the two Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Bottas two and five-tenths adrift respectively.

The gap between the top two teams and the rest of the field was immediately apparent, Ricciardo one-and-a-half seconds off the ultimate pace early on.

Mercedes weren't to play second fiddle for long, both Hamilton and Bottas improved their times to oust Ferrari from the top on the supersoft tyres, whereas the Ferraris ran the softer ultrasofts.

As we ventured into the second half of the session, Mercedes utilised the ultrasoft compound for the first time in the weekend and immediately asserted their pace, proving to be eight-tenths faster than both the Ferraris, Bottas leading Hamilton.

On his return from his Indy 500 excursion a fortnight ago, Fernando Alonso put more pressure on Honda, threatening to leave the team unless they return to their old, winning ways.  He spent most of the morning working on aero development, failing to set a time until the latter stages of the session. However, his session ended moments later in the runoff area at the hairpin, dogged by more gremlins, falling hydraulic pressure the problem this time.

A brave face. | Photo: Getty Images/Octane
A brave face. | Photo: Getty Images/Octane

His former teammate continued to pick up the pace, Hamilton becoming the first man to enter the 1 minute 13 bracket as several drivers still scrabbled for grip.

That time was good enough to see Hamilton top a First Practice session for the fourth time this season, as Mercedes look to bounce back from their troublesome Monaco weekend.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION - FREE PRACTICE 1

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes 1:13.809 - 36
2 Sebastian VETTEL Ferrari 1:14.007 +0.198 28
3 Valtteri BOTTAS Mercedes 1:14.046 +0.237 21
4 Kimi RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1:14.230 +0.421 28
5 Sergio PEREZ Force India 1:14.578 +0.769 34
6 Esteban OCON Force India 1:14.785 +0.976 35
7 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull 1:14.861 +1.052 19
8 Felipe MASSA Williams 1:15.106 +1.297 31
9 Daniel RICCIARDO Red Bull 1:15.441 +1.632 23
10 Daniil KVYAT Toro Rosso 1:15.658 +1.849 26
11 Stoffel VANDOORNE McLaren 1:15.943 +2.134 29
12 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas 1:16.233 +2.424 25
13 Lance STROLL Williams 1:16.313 +2.504 36
14 Romain GROSJEAN Haas 1:16.345 +2.536 18
15 Nico HULKENBERG Renault 1:16.473 +2.664 27
16 Fernando ALONSO McLaren 1:16.521 +2.712 13
17 Marcus ERICSSON Sauber 1:16.805 +2.996 24
18 Jolyon PALMER Renault 1:17.004 +3.195 26
19 Pascal WEHRLEIN Sauber 1:17.606 +3.797 28
20 Carlos SAINZ Toro Rosso No Time - 1

 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
James Eagles
Freelance sports journalist. Arsenal, F1 and Andre Lotterer fan.