EL1 in Montreal: Verstappen hits first

Burned by questions about his driving style upon arriving in Montreal, Max Vertappen responded on the track by being the fastest during the first free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix with a time of 1'13''302.

Published on 08/06/2018 à 17:42

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On an engine circuit where it has the new propellant Renault, the pilot Red Bull anticipate the Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton of 88 thousandths and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo of a pair of tenths.

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) ranks 4th ahead of the Finns Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari). Note that the Silver Arrows did not use the Hyper-Soft tires which had caused them problems in Monaco, unlike their direct rivals.

Behind the usual Top 6, Fernando Alonso stands out at the wheel of his McLaren with the 7th time. The double Spanish world champion precedes Carlos Sainz on the best Renault representative. The second RS18 could not sign time after Nico Hulkenberg experienced gearbox problems at the start of the session, resulting in a red flag.

Stoffel Vandoorne and Pierre Gasly complete the Top 10 for McLaren and Toro Rosso. Grouped fire from the French since Esteban Ocon et Romain Grosjean are respectively in 11th and 12th place. Charles Leclerc occupies 14th position, just behind his teammate Marcus Ericsson.

For his first official appearance on a Grand Prix weekend, the Canadian Nicholas latifi brings up the rear of the drivers who were able to achieve a time. The Force India reservist, however, is more than 3,8 seconds behind the benchmark of Verstappen.

The debates will resume at 14:00 p.m. local time (20:00 p.m. in France) for the second free practice session.