Canadian GP: Max Verstappen fastest in FP1 in Montreal

Max Verstappen topped FP1 in Montreal at the Canadian Grand Prix, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso.

The Dutchman is looking to extend his championship lead this weekend with a win and has started in ideal fashion, quickly dialling himself into the Montreal circuit, with F1 back at the track for the first time since 2019 thanks to a covid-enforced hiatus.

Indeed, it’s great to see the track hosting F1 cars again and some other familiar sights were produced over the course of the hour in FP1, including overheating brakes for Esteban Ocon – though caused by the rather unorthodox issue of a paper towel being stuck in his front right.

The wildlife at the circuit regularly makes an appearance, too, and a groundhog found itself dodging traffic towards the end of the session, with Carlos Sainz coming very close to sending it to meet its maker.

On more serious business, Sainz posted the second-fastest time of the session as he looks to try and get his season going after more frustration in Baku, whilst Charles Leclerc – currently set to avoid a grid penalty this weekend after avoiding a turbo change – went fifth fastest in the session behind Sergio Perez and the impressive-looking Fernando Alonso who was third.

The Alpine driver nearly chucked his A522 suitably into the wall of champions but managed to avoid it, and is looking strong.

Behind them, George Russell was sixth ahead of Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin, whilst their team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were eighth and ninth respectively – it looks like the Aston is continuing to improve at the moment.

Then, in tenth, Daniel Ricciardo, who is obviously looking to build on beating Lando Norris last time out in Baku.

FP2 follows later on today.