The first practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix was effectively abandoned after four minutes due to a circuit CCTV failure.
An early red flag which was shown after Pierre Gasly stopped on the circuit was never rescinded as a CCTV problem on the circuit meant the FIA were unable to resume the session due to safety reasons. Valtteri Bottas was quickest of the 12 drivers who set a single lap time during the opening minutes of the session.With the two Red Bulls sitting atop the championship, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both waited at the end of the pit lane before the first hour of practice began. When it did, both headed out on soft tyres to set their first laps of the race weekend, joined on soft tyres by the two Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, while the 13 others who also took to the circuit chose mediums.
Gasly headed out in his Alpine for his first lap, but reported a drive problem with his car heading through turn five. With his rear wheels not responding to the input of his right foot on the throttle, Gasly stopped on the side of the track as his team attempted to provide him solutions over the radio. After attempting to restart his car by removing and replacing the steering wheel, Gasly was told to switch off his car and the red flag was flown, stopping the session.
Marshals began work to clear away the Alpine as the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton exited the garage to the end of the pit lane to await the restart of the session. However, there was an unexpected delay to the session being resumed due to a technical problem with the circuit’s CCTV system, meaning race control were unable to start the session with the required level of safety guaranteed.
The two Mercedes were wheeled back into the garage while circuit staff worked on fixing the CCTV problem. However, what was expected to be a relatively brief delay continued to drag on until there was less than half an hour of run time remaining. The FIA reiterated that work was continuing to fix the circuit infrastructure, but that efforts to resync the CCTV system had been unsuccessful.
As the minutes ticked by, Hamilton attempted to entertain the patient Canadian fans by stepping over the pit wall and onto the track to wave to the crowd, before it was then announced that the session would not be resumed due to the fault. The FIA confirmed that second practice will begin 30 minutes earlier than originally scheduled and extended by the same amount to make back some of the time lost.
Of those drivers who did set a time in the opening four minutes of the session, Bottas was quickest for Alfa Romeo with a 1’18.728, ahead of the two Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso and the two Red Bulls of Perez and Verstappen. Only 12 drivers completed timed laps in the session, although none of which were at representative speeds.
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2023 Canadian Grand Prix first practice result
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C43 | 1’18.728 | 3 | |
| 2 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR23 | 1’19.175 | 0.447 | 3 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR23 | 1’19.807 | 1.079 | 3 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB19 | 1’20.154 | 1.426 | 3 |
| 5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB19 | 1’20.231 | 1.503 | 3 |
| 6 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL60 | 1’21.496 | 2.768 | 3 |
| 7 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-23 | 1’24.045 | 5.317 | 3 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | VF-23 | 1’24.336 | 5.608 | 3 |
| 9 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C43 | 1’24.961 | 6.233 | 3 |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-23 | 1’25.991 | 7.263 | 3 |
| 11 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-23 | 1’26.809 | 8.081 | 3 |
| 12 | 21 | Nyck de Vries | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | AT04 | 1’32.274 | 13.546 | 3 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | AT04 | No time | 2 | |
| 14 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL60 | No time | 2 | |
| 15 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A523 | No time | 1 | |
| 16 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW45 | No time | 1 | |
| 17 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | FW45 | No time | 2 | |
| 18 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A523 | No time | ||
| 19 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W14 | No time | ||
| 20 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W14 | No time |
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2023 Canadian Grand Prix
- Norris ‘even more’ sure Canada penalty was wrong after review request fails
- McLaren seeking more than just downforce gains from major upgrade
- Winning more races won’t necessarily lead to F1 seat – Palou
- Red Bull’s testing restriction will “massively affect” 2024 car development
- Schumacher’s set-up input gives Mercedes a “super advantage” – Wolff
Jere (@jerejj)
16th June 2023, 19:46
Pathetic for modern technology standards how such an issue doesn’t get solved in 40+ minutes.
Also, what a coincidence the issue with CCTV footage struck shortly after Gasly’s red flag-causing stoppage as if they’re somehow connected.
Consequently, the only occasion Bottas tops any session, in all likelihood, unless similarly unusual circumstances & good luck with timing strike again.
T
16th June 2023, 19:55
It’s not that deep, it’s never that deep Jere
Jere (@jerejj)
16th June 2023, 20:33
T – I was sarcastic anyway.
Simon – Yes, most likely the only time this season with him topping a session in a midfield car.
T
16th June 2023, 20:43
fair enough, mea culpa
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th June 2023, 22:03
Yes, I also thought it was strange, till I read the session was 4 mins long, don’t remember this happening in recent f1 history, although I never watch practice, usually even rain affected sessions go the full duration or longer than that.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
16th June 2023, 19:58
Bottas is 1.5 up on Verstappen – what a driver.
Simon
16th June 2023, 20:14
@jerejj
I guess you mean Bottas fastest in a practice session for Alfa Romeo? Because if not…
Jere (@jerejj)
16th June 2023, 20:34
Something, I forgot to add earlier is that merely communicating the CCTV issue took unnecessarily long, meaning even teams were unsure what caused the lengthy delay without an apparent reason.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
16th June 2023, 20:01
That was highly impressive.
Zero redundancy in a critical safety system. How do these people tie their shoes?
George.be
16th June 2023, 20:06
You think they wear shoes?
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
16th June 2023, 20:44
What’s wrong with spotters and radios? Impressive inflexibility and impressively poor troubleshooting.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
16th June 2023, 20:58
There could very well be a minimum level of real-time observability and permanent video archival coverage of the circuit that is part of the FIA’s and/or host company’s insurance coverage.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
16th June 2023, 20:11
Well at least nobody got hurt … that is the main thing.
Hopefully, someday, nobody will be allowed to do anything risky or challenging.
I read a book last week about people racing without seatbelts or helmets.
It was a fantasy novel I think.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
16th June 2023, 23:20
Better/ quicker responce than in Australia when the GPS failed!
MichaelN
16th June 2023, 20:17
Going by Domenicali recently complaining about “traditional venues” needing to provide a high standard to F1 and its fans a like, it’s only fair to reimburse the fans for this failure by the host to provide the entertainment the fans paid for.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th June 2023, 22:07
They should’ve done that at spa 2021 too but didn’t.
MichaelN
17th June 2023, 11:07
Indeed, although Spa itself did organize a somewhat farcical ‘lottery’ for a couple dozen 2022 tickets.
But F1 hid behind their farcical “complete but stopped race” shenanigans, and none of the drivers and teams who complained was ever shown to have done anything for those fans.
Kringle
16th June 2023, 20:21
I’m lost for words, how did we ever cope before CCTV.
Oh yeah it was called communication skills and marshalls.
Formula Joke
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
16th June 2023, 20:48
If F1 wants to pare down the practice sessions as proposed or like for the parade in Florida this cannot happen. The only reason this error doesn’t matter is that there is more than sufficient time for practice.
Dex
16th June 2023, 21:40
Pathetic.
Pedro (@)
16th June 2023, 21:54
Which tire did Bottas use? Also, when both Mercedes didn’t set a laptime, this session’s laptime are irrelevant. Poor session by Ferrari, though
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th June 2023, 22:10
Nah, you can’t draw conclusions from a 4 min practice, teams run different tyres, settings etc., even 60 mins practice sessions tell very little about real performance, let alone ones that get cut short to 4 mins.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
16th June 2023, 22:39
What happened to the predictions?