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Lewis Hamilton has ended the opening practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend on top of the timesheets, as Mercedes holds a large gap to its rivals.
Hamilton's lap time of 1:12.767 was almost one second faster than Charles Leclerc in P3, while the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was in second place, behind his teammate.
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However, the day didn't end smoothly for Bottas, as he was hit with a reported loss of fuel pressure in the final minutes of the session.
Dusty circuit makes for a slow start
The day was slow to get underway, as the track surface was noticeably dusty - all drivers appeared to be struggling for grip throughout the 90-minute session.
The dust was still present on the racing line when the chequered flag fell, however there were plenty of cars out on the circuit to sweep the dust and debris up.
Max Verstappen ended the session in fourth place, splitting the Ferrari duo and Vettel was fifth, 1.1 seconds down on pace-setter Hamilton. Vettel's former teammate Kimi Raikkonen was sixth, 0.050s slower than the German.
Giovinazzi hits the wall
Raikkonen's teammate Antonio Giovianzzi's hit the wall on the exit of Turn 9, losing the rear and damaging his rear suspension which put him out of the session.
In high spirits after three consecutive top ten finishes, Carlos Sainz was seventh for McLaren, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo by a tenth and a half.
Sergio Perez was ninth in the Racing Point car while Haas, whose car is running without Rich Energy logos this weekend, rounded out the top ten with Kevin Magnussen.
Nicholas Latifi, who made his first FP1 appearance of the year, set a lot of laps early on for the Grove squad, while other teams opted to wait for the track to clean up. The Montreal born racer ended the session on 20th.
Pierre Gasly didn't break into the top ten, as he concluded opening practice in 13th, one second down on teammate Verstappen.
Gilles Villeneuve - 07 June 2019
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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Replies (4)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
There we are. Yeah, it's just FP1, but I have no doubts about Mercedes' form for this race. I sincerely doubt they will be that much behind Ferrari on the straights.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
They are a full second clear of the next best. What a waste of everyones time, F1 really is. I might as well bet on a successful interstellar travel before Ferrari wins another championship.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Damn what a gap...
xoya
Posts: 583
A gap between Verstappen and Gasly is incredible.