A Red Bull driver headed all three practice sessions for the second race weekend in a row, but in Canada it was Max Verstappen instead of Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen ended a close final hour of practice just five-hundredths of a second clear of the Ferraris and a tenth of a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Verstappen appeared to have more time in hand, setting a further two personal best sectors before pitting. Even so his best run was 0.14s shy of last year’s pole position time, which is also the track record for this circuit.There was almost nothing to choose between the two Ferraris. Mercedes were unable to jump them or Verstappen’s Red Bull despite finally running the hyper-soft tyres for the first time this weekend.
Following his compromised first day of practice, Daniel Ricciardo spent part of his session doing a longer run and ended up fifth-fastest.
The lead of the midfield battle changed hands between several drivers during the session. Force India seemed to hold a slight edge and Sergio Perez ended up first behind the ‘big six’, though the gaps behind him were tiny. Just 0.17 seconds covered six drivers from five different teams.
Stoffel Vandoorne was the quicker of the two McLaren drivers in 10th place. This was despite a trip up the escape road at turn three which it took some time for him to emerge from as he slowly U-turned his McLaren.
Williams’ joyless weekend continued. Sergey Sirotkin only prevented both their cars from being rooted to the bottom of the times by beating Marcus Ericsson to 18th place.
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Third practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’11.599
+0.049 Sebastian Vettel – 1’11.648
+0.051 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’11.650
+0.107 Lewis Hamilton – 1’11.706
+0.554 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’12.153
+0.656 Valtteri Bottas – 1’12.255
+1.304 Sergio Perez – 1’12.903
+1.347 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’12.946
+1.415 Romain Grosjean – 1’13.014
+1.435 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’13.034
+1.465 Esteban Ocon – 1’13.064
+1.477 Brendon Hartley – 1’13.076
+1.626 Fernando Alonso – 1’13.225
+1.732 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’13.331
+1.735 Pierre Gasly – 1’13.334
+1.853 Charles Leclerc – 1’13.452
+1.889 Kevin Magnussen – 1’13.488
+2.219 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’13.818
+2.326 Marcus Ericsson – 1’13.925
+2.369 Lance Stroll – 1’13.968
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’13.302 | 1’12.198 | 1’11.599 | -0.599 | 79 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’13.574 | 1’12.985 | 1’11.648 | -1.337 | 65 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’13.727 | 1’12.328 | 1’11.650 | -0.678 | 91 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’13.390 | 1’12.777 | 1’11.706 | -1.071 | 91 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’13.518 | 1’12.603 | 1’12.153 | -0.45 | 70 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’13.617 | 1’13.061 | 1’12.255 | -0.806 | 98 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’13.754 | 1’12.903 | -0.851 | 56 | |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’13.967 | 1’12.946 | -1.021 | 61 | |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’15.119 | 1’13.620 | 1’13.014 | -0.606 | 71 |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’14.311 | 1’14.167 | 1’13.034 | -1.133 | 54 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’15.071 | 1’13.747 | 1’13.064 | -0.683 | 87 |
| 12 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’15.756 | 1’13.889 | 1’13.076 | -0.813 | 104 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’13.900 | 1’13.866 | 1’13.225 | -0.641 | 76 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’14.116 | 1’14.433 | 1’13.331 | -0.785 | 55 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’15.004 | 1’14.486 | 1’13.334 | -1.152 | 89 |
| 16 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’15.439 | 1’13.884 | 1’13.452 | -0.432 | 88 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’15.579 | 1’13.956 | 1’13.488 | -0.468 | 81 |
| 18 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’15.768 | 1’14.782 | 1’13.818 | -0.964 | 83 |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’15.386 | 1’14.108 | 1’13.925 | -0.183 | 91 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’16.259 | 1’14.703 | 1’13.968 | -0.735 | 73 |
| 21 | Nicholas Latifi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’17.145 | 28 |
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2018 Canadian Grand Prix
- Hamilton stays ahead but Bottas hits trouble in second practice
- False flags: F1’s three other chequered flag blunders
- 2018 Canadian Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix
- Vettel evokes memories of Villeneuve by ending Ferrari’s wait for Canada win
Phylyp (@phylyp)
9th June 2018, 17:08
That gap to the midfield, though. And closeness within.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th June 2018, 17:12
@phylyp Precisely. It should be a close qualifying especially at that part of the field.
nase
9th June 2018, 17:27
@phylyp
Now imagine what that’d look like if Bottas and Ricciardo had managed decent laps as well …
Phylyp (@phylyp)
9th June 2018, 17:30
Indeed, nase and @jerejj
Chaitanya
9th June 2018, 17:37
What’s more worrying that the top teams again can get a quick lap in Q2 on middle or hardest tyre compound and start the race on contra strategy to rest of the top 10 or even the grid.
Andrew in Atlanta
9th June 2018, 17:49
Why is that worrying, it’s a valid strategy within the rules. If they can lap fast enough to stay ahead of the mid tier cars on supers more power to them. But it looks like the hypers are over a second faster and those in 8-13ish are within that window to make running the harder tire risky and end up 11th at the end of the session. I doubt anyone would skip on running hypers in Q2, they might try the supers but thinking they’ll have to fit hypers to make sure they’re in.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
9th June 2018, 23:03
He means worrying as in that they have so much pace advantage.
ia
9th June 2018, 17:35
RBR has no party mode. So RBR will have to fight for maybe P3/P4 since Bottas doesn’t look that strong at the moment. But Max shows again that he is the fastest.
Arnoud van Houwelingen (@arnoudvanhouwelingen)
9th June 2018, 17:48
That visual gap on this page says enough .. top 3 and then the rest! it will be 2 races in 1 race …
Vettel fan 17 (@)
9th June 2018, 18:16
Qualifying is going to be sooooooooooooo close
erikje
9th June 2018, 18:22
And then. Quali Ferrari and nerc turn up the engines and of of those steals pole