F1-EL1: Di Resta takes the lead in Montreal

The first free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix was disrupted by a downpour that occurred shortly before the start of testing. The drivers were therefore forced to opt for grooved tires for most of the session before being able to take advantage of slick tires for the last minutes of the session. If a few drivers tested the experimental tires provided by Pirelli which could be introduced by the Italian manufacturer for Silverstone, the white wall rubbers were favored by the teams which lacked time to take advantage of a dry track while other showers are scheduled for Saturday.

If you feel like you want to take the Mercedes were highlighted with Sebastian Vettel when the cars were running on intermediate tires, the hierarchy was shaken up at the very end of the session when the drivers returned to the track for a final lap on medium tires. Paul di Resta set the benchmark time for the session with a time of 1'21"020 after only completing around ten laps. Jenson Button was the closest, failing at 88 thousandths. Romain Grosjean et Fernando Alonso followed two tenths ahead of Kimi Räikkönen. The gap widens with Daniel Ricciardo who finished in sixth position, more than a second behind. Nico Rosberg finished in seventh place ahead of Sergio Pérez. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber complete the top ten more than two seconds behind.

In these tricky conditions, two drivers saw their session interrupted after making a mistake. Jules Bianchi only had time to complete eight laps before finding himself stuck in the runoff track at turn 3. Pastor Maldonado was able to compete almost the entire session before spinning and hitting the wall from the front.

The second free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix will be contested from 14 p.m. (20 p.m. in France).