Canadian GP FP1: Verstappen tops, Leclerc crashes, McLaren struggle
F1 NewsFriday, 13 June 2025 at 20:34
Max Verstappen topped the first practice session for the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix as McLaren had a slow start with Charles Leclerc crashing early on.
Verstappen heads into this weekend's grand prix with a potential race ban overshadowing his race after his George Russell incident in Spain two weeks ago.
And while the four-time Formula 1 champion enjoyed a strong start to his weekend in Canada, McLaren with both their drivers struggled to get to grips with the green Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as the session was filled with incidents of drivers losing control of their cars as they struggles with locking up and lack of rear grip.
But it was Charles Leclerc who found the barriers, 15 minutes into the session, and thus missed out on precious running time as his Ferrari was badly damaged.
Williams showed great pace during the session as Alex Albon was second fastest with Carlos Sainz third in the sister car.
But Williams boss James Vowles clarified that the pace of his cars was not genuine. He said: "We're further ahead than we should be, we're running a slightly different program to others."
George Russell was fourth fastest in the Mercedes while Lewis Hamilton was fifth as Isack Hadjar showed strong pace once again and was sixth fastest.
Norris was seventh in his McLaren, 0.458s off the pace while teammate Oscar Piastri was down in 14th in the other car.
Liam Lawson was eighth fastest in the other VCARB ahead of Pierre Gasly in ninth as Leclerc's time before crashing meant he was classified tenth.
Buildup towards FP1
F1 is back in action after a brief break that separated us from the European triple header, which was concluded with the dramatic-ending Spanish Grand Prix.
With the flexi-wing saga behind us and McLaren silencing their rivals and critics, showing they even got better after the FIA technical directive, we can now focus on how dominant every race weekend is and which of their rivals will be closer to mount a challenge.
The other talking point is Verstappen's risk of a race ban after his incident with Russell in Barcelona and whether that will affect the way he races and whether his rivals will lure him into a fight that may cost him a penalty point.
With the Dutchman struggling, it is more apparent that the likes of Russell and Leclerc are not shying away from a fight with him, as he now has to think about the points, which was not the case when he drove into Russell.
For Canada, we will look out to see which McLaren driver will be on top and whether Verstappen can get close to crashing their party. What of the Mercedes and Ferraris?
Lance Stroll is back in the driver's seat at Aston Martin after sitting out the race in Spain following his mysterious and "private" wrist issue. How will he get on?
There is much to look forward to as the action starts around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where the slightest flirt with the barriers—the wall of champions in particular—could prove costly.
In terms of tyres, Pirelli brought their softest tyre compounds: C4 (Hard), C5 (Medium), and C6 (Soft)
In terms of car upgrades, McLaren brought a new front wing, revised front suspension as well as a circuit specific rear wing.
Mercedes had track specific brake ducts and a new floor edge as Aston Martin also brought track specific brake ducts.
Alpine have a revised front wing which Racing Bulls also did and adding revised rear-wing elements.
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in clear conditions with track conditions at 41 degrees Celsius while the air temperature was 16 degrees.
The drivers did not waste any time and were soon out track and soon Franco Colapinto spun coming out of Turn 2 as soon as he hit the throttle. No contact, just a brief Yellow Flag and he was soon on his way.
Verstappen soon reported that his steering wheel feels very heavy. His engineer said they could not see an reliability issue and asked him to keep going as the team will monitor the situation.
Kimi Antonelli soon had a moment at Turn 6, went off track and reported rear-brake locking. Norris also locked his rears in the hairpin.
The starting tyre was the Soft with only the Saubers opting for the Medium compound.
15 minutes into the session, the Red Flag came out as Leclerc ran messed up his braking going into Turn 3, went straight onto the grass and into the barriers. Session over.
Leclerc admitted he misjudged the situation and thought he could make the corner; he said: "Sorry, I'm in the wall - I should have gone straight on."
Replay showed Gabriel Bortoleto also had a close call with Albon who was trying to pass a slow Hamilton out on track.
The session was restarted with 37 minutes remaining on the clock with Leclerc on the top of the timing screens as he had set the fastest time before crashing.
Soon Russell had a moment at Turn 6 but managed to keep his car in track. Norris had an off-road excursion at Turn 7 while Hamilton lost the rear of his Ferrari in the hairpin.
With 22 minutes remaining, it was notable that drivers persisted with the Soft tyres.
Albon also had a moment when he came up in Fernando Alonso's way. The Spaniard wasn't very happy; naturally.
Norris then went deep into Turn 1 and run through the run-off area, as Piastri was a bit wayward in Turn 6, while replay showed Verstappen getting dangerously close to the wall of champions.
Hamilton then missed his braking going into Turn 13 and kept going straight. All the drivers have had moment an the track that was dirty with rear grip not available.
The session was concluded with practice starts.
Canadian GP FP1 Classification
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