F1 2023 season

9. Canada

Practice 1

FP2 at the Canadian Grand Prix will be extended by half an hour to 90 minutes after a CCTV issue at the track meant there was limited running in the opening hour. The day's second practice session will now begin half an hour earlier than originally scheduled at 1630 local time.

Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets during the disrupted first practice session in Montreal, that had originally been halted after the Alpine of Pierre Gasly suffered a mechanical issue.

With clouds covering the circuit, and rain in the air, the drivers quickly filed out onto the track as they looked to make the most of the drier conditions, with many evaluating their upgrades.

However, proceedings were soon halted after the red flag was waved due to Gasly stopping on track after being unable to switch gears. With his team mate Esteban Ocon's car still in the garage being worked on by the mechanics, it marked an unwelcomed start to the session for Alpine.

While Gasly's car had been moved from the side of the track, the session was still not resumed due to issues with the local CCTV around the circuit, with track running unable to resume for safety reasons.

And, after the decision was made to call of the session with less than 10 minutes on the clock, Bottas' time of a 1m 18.728s was enough to see the Alfa Romeo driver top the timesheets of FP1, ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen ended the session fourth and fifth, respectively, for Red Bull, ahead of Oscar Piastri in sixth for McLaren.

Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth, respectively, ahead of the other Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu. Carlos Sainz rounded out the top-10, in front of his Ferrari running mate Charles Leclerc.

Nyck de Vries was the slowest of the 12 drivers to set a time, with his AlphaTauri team mate Yuki Tsunoda one of the eight racers unable to complete a lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The other drivers that were unable to set a time were Lando Norris, the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, as well as the two Alpines.

Due to the delay, FP2 will be brought forward by half an hour, and it will be a 90-minute session, giving the teams and their drivers more time to get in tune with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.