Red Bull was on top at the start of the session, Ferrari responded in kind when the soft tires came on. In the end, however, the reigning world champion put 0s246 ahead of second-placed Carlos Sainz and gave the Taurinos their first point of the weekend
Formula 1 opened work on its ninth round of the 2022 calendar this early Friday afternoon (17). The first free practice for the Canadian GP had Max Verstappen leading the session, which promised - but did not deliver - rain.
Speaking of the main title contenders, Red Bull started TL1 with a clear advantage over Ferrari. Verstappen and Sergio Pérez were better in the initial sequence on medium tires, but when the soft compounds were put on, the Italian team balanced things out.
Still, the Taurinos got the better of the pack. The reigning world champion was fastest, with 1min15s158 - finally putting aside the unrecognizable timidity that accompanied him in free practice in Monaco and Baku. Carlos Sainz was second, while the 'intruder' Fernando Alonso was ahead of Sergio Pérez and Charles Leclerc, in order.
Behind the top-5 were George Russell, Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Daniel Ricciardo. Mercedes fulfilled its role as the third force, while Aston Martin surprised - as did the Australian, who was once again ahead of Lando Norris.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows all the activities LIVE and IN REALTIME. Later today, TL2 is scheduled for 6pm (GMT-3).
Check out TL1 of the F1 Canadian Grand Prix:
As soon as the timer allowed, the drivers were soon out on track for the official start of Formula 1 action in Canada. With the exception of Nicholas Latifi, Fernando Alonso, and Alexander Albon, everyone was already circulating around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with only two minutes left in the session.
At the start, only Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda chose soft tires for their initial sequence of laps. The rest of the grid opted for medium compounds - Pirelli, it should be noted, has made its softer range (C3, C4 and C5) available for the Canadian Grand Prix.
The first to appear at the top of the timesheet was Max Verstappen. The reigning world champion clocked 1min17s991, immediately ahead of Lewis Hamilton, taking his Mercedes to the front row with 1min18s613. A significant difference between the two, therefore.
That changed after only five minutes of TL1, when Valtteri Bottas set a 1min17s902, in the mid-range, and took the provisional lead of the session from Verstappen - while Carlos Sainz made a mistake in the last sector and George Russell, by radio, complained about the wind.
The Red Bull Dutchman was soon back in the lead, bringing along his teammate Sergio Perez. The energy team, at 1-2, set a fast pace from the start of the first free practice session in Montreal.
At the 10-minute mark of the session, this proved to be the case. Verstappen then clocked 1min15s799 - the first to get down to 1min16s and, consequently, 1min15s. Leclerc was finally setting some good laps, moving up to third on soft tires, but without threatening in any way the dominant start of the Taurus.
Shortly after, the FOM broadcast showed Mick Schumacher running off the track - proving that the German's ordeal for the 2022 season continues. Meanwhile, Pérez stole the lead from Verstappen with 1min15s660 and Esteban Ocon saw the right front brakes of his Alpine go up in smoke.
The French team initially asked the driver to cool the brakes, but Ocon pointed out the breakdown via radio - so Alpine called the 25-year-old Frenchman into the pits to collect the car back to the garage and start the analysis process. Not that much investigation was needed: the broadcast replay showed a plastic bag flying at the car and covering the air outlet of the A522's pedals.
At the 20-minute mark of TL1, track action slowed considerably. Fernando Alonso was the only driver in the top-5 - the Spaniard even managed a good provisional third place with a mark 0s652 behind Pérez - running on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Most of the grid was in the pits.
When they went to the track, the two Mercedes drivers used the radio to report different complaints. Russell pointed out that the wind was "impractical," Hamilton pointed out that "I was out of the back". On the timesheet, nothing to highlight for the Silver Arrows, who faced another timid session.
The same could not be said for Aston Martin. With 30 minutes of TL1, right in the middle of the session, Lance Stroll was in third position and Sebastian Vettel in fourth. With the two Red Bull cars ahead, Alonso, Sainz, Leclerc, Bottas, Hamilton, and Yuki Tsunoda, in order, completed the top-10.
That order did not last long. Ferrari finally responded to match Red Bull: Leclerc crossed the finish line in 1min15s666, Sainz recorded 1min15s441. Third place for the Monegasque and provisional lead of the session for the Spaniard.
On the taurine side, problems. Verstappen complained that his RB18 jumped too much when passing through a zebra and the team called him back to the pits. Pérez, on the other hand, was accused of blocking Latifi at the last corner of the track - forcing the Williams driver off the track.
With just under 24 minutes remaining, Verstappen retook the lead of TL1: 1min15s158 on soft tires for the reigning world champion. Little by little, the teams put their drivers on the track with red stripe compounds.
This did not necessarily imply intense changes in the timesheets. One thing to note, however: Alonso once again showed fast pace on Friday and placed himself in the top-3, behind Verstappen and Sainz.
In the final stretch of the session, with the track cooler and teams betting on longer sequences of laps, with medium tires - Verstappen's case - the order of forces of the first free practice did not change. Verstappen came out the leader and put Red Bull in the lead at the start of F1's work in Montreal.