Max Verstappen delivered the best possible riposte to recent questions over his driving by heading both practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday.
However the true potential of last year’s race winners Mercedes remains unclear as they are yet to use the softest tyres available this weekend. The team only has five sets of hyper-softs, two fewer than any other team, and won’t run them for the first time until tomorrow’s final practice session.
Verstappen took over 1.1 seconds off his best time from the morning session. That left him just one-tenth of a second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who led the charge for Ferrari on hyper-softs.Daniel Ricciardo missed much of the opening part of the session due to a technical problem on his car. He therefore had to conduct his qualifying simulation while the rest of the field were doing race stints, but was able to set the third-quickest time.
Next was Lewis Hamilton in the first of the Mercedes, with Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas rounding off the usual top six.
The midfield runners were headed by Romain Grosjean’s Haas, who led the two Force Indias and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren.
For the second session in a row proceedings were disrupted by a red flag caused by a Renault. This time it was Carlos Sainz Jnr’s turn, and the cause was not a technical problem but a driver error. Sainz’s car snapped sideways at the exit of turn seven, swiping the barrier and scattering pieces of his rear wing across the track.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also caught out Stoffel Vandoorne, who clouted the barrier at the exit of turn nine. He pulled over with suspension damage and took no further part in the session.
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| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’12.198 | 39 | |
| 2 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’12.328 | 0.130 | 42 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’12.603 | 0.405 | 17 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’12.777 | 0.579 | 39 |
| 5 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’12.985 | 0.787 | 24 |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’13.061 | 0.863 | 40 |
| 7 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’13.620 | 1.422 | 34 |
| 8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’13.747 | 1.549 | 40 |
| 9 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’13.754 | 1.556 | 40 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’13.866 | 1.668 | 30 |
| 11 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’13.884 | 1.686 | 39 |
| 12 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’13.889 | 1.691 | 42 |
| 13 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’13.956 | 1.758 | 39 |
| 14 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’13.967 | 1.769 | 37 |
| 15 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’14.108 | 1.910 | 41 |
| 16 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’14.167 | 1.969 | 14 |
| 17 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’14.433 | 2.235 | 9 |
| 18 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’14.486 | 2.288 | 39 |
| 19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’14.703 | 2.505 | 40 |
| 20 | 35 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’14.782 | 2.584 | 35 |
Second practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’12.198
+0.130 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’12.328
+0.405 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’12.603
+0.579 Lewis Hamilton – 1’12.777
+0.787 Sebastian Vettel – 1’12.985
+0.863 Valtteri Bottas – 1’13.061
+1.422 Romain Grosjean – 1’13.620
+1.549 Esteban Ocon – 1’13.747
+1.556 Sergio Perez – 1’13.754
+1.668 Fernando Alonso – 1’13.866
+1.686 Charles Leclerc – 1’13.884
+1.691 Brendon Hartley – 1’13.889
+1.758 Kevin Magnussen – 1’13.956
+1.769 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’13.967
+1.910 Marcus Ericsson – 1’14.108
+1.969 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’14.167
+2.235 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’14.433
+2.288 Pierre Gasly – 1’14.486
+2.505 Lance Stroll – 1’14.703
+2.584 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’14.782
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
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- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
Sush meerkat
8th June 2018, 20:44
Isn’t it the Canadian Grand Prix? The title says French gp
Robbie (@robbie)
8th June 2018, 20:46
Lol well French is one of our official languages.
Sush meerkat
8th June 2018, 21:08
Lol bien sur
It’s causing problems for the links at the bottom of the article as it’s linking to any other French GP articles
Jere (@jerejj)
8th June 2018, 21:14
Sush meerkat Good spot. In the end, Montreal is part of the so-called ‘French Canada,’ LOL.
Kai
8th June 2018, 20:58
Can’t see Merc gaining almost 6 tenths on the Hypers (bearing in mind they struggle on softer compounds) – early days but we may have a 3-way battle again.
pastaman (@)
9th June 2018, 12:48
Don’t forget magic mode…
72defender (@72defender)
8th June 2018, 21:15
Would love to know if Williams’ deficiencies are car specific or made worse being piloted by two pay drivers.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
8th June 2018, 21:30
@72defender I’d say a bit of both probably.
Williams are 1.3s slower than their nearest competitor and 2.5s slower than the fastest time…. Last year Stroll was generally 0.7-1.0s slower than Massa. Now, Massa was also generally a few tenths slower than Alonso and even Raikkonen before that (both of whom aren’t the fastest qualifiers either). So, let’s say a really competent driver can be roughly a second quicker than Stroll is now and….. they’d still be dead last! Although they might be getting more useful feedback than Stroll’s moaning, to develop the car with.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
8th June 2018, 23:05
@jeffreyj Your reasoning was good till the last line, you said a competent driver can be 1 sec quicker than stroll which I agree with, then you said they’d still be dead last, from the data on that table it looks to me they’d be in the top 10!
mmertens (@mmertens)
8th June 2018, 23:19
One thing is for sure. Kubica would easily be 1 sec ahead of stroll on this circuit.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
9th June 2018, 0:49
@esploratore You’re right…. I should get glasses or something lol
Esploratore (@esploratore)
9th June 2018, 23:26
Ahah, however, while I’d like kubica to be back in f1, I think it’s unrealistic he’d be 1 sec faster than stroll, think it’s gonna be 3-5 tenths depending how in form he is, he must have lost something with the way he’s forced to drive.
Cartwheel
8th June 2018, 22:04
Both drivers are winners in lower formula- neither are slow. The car is a handful.
John
8th June 2018, 21:28
Looking for Max bashers mmmmmm ok nothing to see here.
ForzaAlonsoF1
8th June 2018, 21:34
Calm down, it’s we’re only at FP2, the wall of champions has his name written all over it this weekend.
ajpennypacker (@ajpennypacker)
8th June 2018, 21:44
Don’t jinx it, it was just practice session.
John
8th June 2018, 21:52
So was Monaco.
Sush meerkat
8th June 2018, 21:55
Haha savage, but true
mystic one (@mysticus)
8th June 2018, 22:11
he may be keeping his best surprise for the gp… who knows? max like to be unpredictable… which he refuses to change, so ready for a surprise :0
Azmo (@azmo)
8th June 2018, 22:36
Headbutt galore!
Steve
9th June 2018, 2:30
Is Max competing on his own in the French gp this weekend so he doesn’t crash into anyone?
John
9th June 2018, 11:01
Hahahaha a crash joke! so funny!
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
9th June 2018, 6:14
Very glad that Verstappen clearly saying he was not going to change and show his speed this week.
Theoddkiwi (@theoddkiwi)
9th June 2018, 6:26
Hartley knocking on the door of the top ten there is nothing between Hartley, Leclerc and Alonso.
Archit (@architjain07)
9th June 2018, 15:35
I thought Alonso set his best time on Ultrasofts and not hypersofts! Can someone please confirm it? If so, Mclaren could be the big surprise this weekend.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
9th June 2018, 15:55
Wow all kinds of suprises.
Hartley with a Honda just behind Alonso in a Renault on a power track.
Red Bull infront… With Renault..
Things look crazy, Honda was running top at the speed trap for awhile. What a shocker.
I call it first then 2019 Red Bull – Honda WCC.
Alonso (@alonshow)
9th June 2018, 17:44
@keithcollantine: I have a suggestion for the free practice session articles: Could you include the best times achieved with each tyre? The interesting situation with Mercedes skipping the hyper softs in the first two practice sessions (and I hear Alonso also did that) highlights how knowing the times set with each compound would be quite informative. And overall it would give us a valuable first impression of how each team is performing with each tyre.
As always, thank you for this great website, the best on F1 that I know.