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Rain stops play in free practice 1 at the Canadian Grand Prix

Canadian Grand Prix: F1 free practice 1 results

The 2024 season has seen three different race winners across the last three Grand Prix weekends. But who will prevail in Canada?

Rhiannon Temporal 5 min read

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Rain and a red flag stops play in free practice 1 at the Canadian Grand Prix

Wet weather brings free practice 1 to a halt at the Canadian Grand Prix
Wet weather brings free practice 1 to a halt at the Canadian Grand Prix. (Image Credit: @F1 on X)

The 2024 Formula One season is heating up, we’ve had three different winners in the last three races. Now, we head to Canada which has always been a happy hunting ground for Lewis Hamilton. Could Mercedes join Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari as race winners in 2024?

One of the biggest news stories since the Monaco Grand Prix weekend has been that Esteban Ocon will leave Alpine at the end of the season. While Ocon was involved in a lap one incident with his teammate last time out, his fate had already been sealed.

The Frenchman won’t feature in the first practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix, as Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan will take his place. Was this unfortunate timing or too convenient to be a coincidence?

Wet weather hits Montreal

However, could the amount of lap time Doohan receives in free practice 1 be dramatically slashed? Wet weather conditions were already teased going into the weekend, but within an hour of the session occurring, hail was hitting the track.

Expect extremely slippery conditions in FP1, with the walls and gravel not too far away. In addition, the track has been resurfaced with new kerbs installed, adding more variables in tricky conditions. But who will master Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the first practice session?

The light goes green (?) for free practice 1

As the clock ticks down, race control announce that while the session will start on time, the pit lane exit will remain closed. Of course, this means that we won’t see any drivers out on track as the session gets underway. However, the marshals are trying to sweep away as much standing water as possible. The drivers are keen to get out there, with many getting their helmets on and sitting in their cockpits.

Just under 10 minutes into the session, and its currently not raining. However, more rain is on the radar so it’s a race against time to get the cars out. At the start of the session, there were yellow flags in all three sectors. But the yellows in sector three have now been removed.

15 minutes in and we have a car on track. Sadly, it’s only the safety car as race control continues to evaluate the conditions. And to make matters worse, the rain has returned.

Even though the rain is back, race control has announced that the pit exit will open 25 minutes after the session had begun. However, ‘TBC’ follows the statement, so this could change.

The light actually goes green

Earlier than expected, the light goes green and the cars are allowed out on track. Hamilton is the first to brave the conditions with a set of intermediate tyres and it looks tricky out there. The seven-time world champion is joined by his former teammate Valtteri Bottas who has opted for the full wet tyre.

More drivers are starting to head out with Lando Norris, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hulkenberg also playing it safe with the full wets. But Bottas believes its already time for inters as the Sauber driver pits. Max Verstappen clearly agrees, with the reigning world champion the second driver to opt for the inters.

30 minutes into the session, only Hamilton has a time on the board. The Mercedes driver has posted a 1:36.654, but has now returned to the pits. Oscar Piastri, Doohan, Logan Sargeant, Alex Albon, and George Russell have now also left the pit lane.

Bottas dethrones Hamilton with a 1:33.215, with Verstappen going P3 with a 1:42.310.

Zhou causes a red flag

After 11 minutes of running time, Zhou brings out the red flag to bring the session to a halt once more. The Chinese driver aquaplanes into the wall and breaks his front suspension on the left side. He’s fighting the car through Turns 3 and 4, before finally hitting the wall in Turn 5. The rest of the field are going to be massively hindered with the lack of running time they’ve received in this session.

However, the marshals are quick to recover the car. The green light shines once more with 23 minutes left on the clock. To continue the weather chat, the blue sky is really starting to break through the clouds now so the rest of the session shouldn’t be weather impacted.

Dry lines and the potential for slick tyres

While the spray is still dramatic off-line, dry lines are starting to appear on the track and the lap times are coming in thick and fast. Charles Leclerc propels himself to the top of the timesheet with a 1:27.560 followed by Magnussen, Carlos Sainz, Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo, Russell, Gasly, Sergio Perez, and Bottas rounding out the top 10.

Aston Martin were the last team to send a driver out on track, with Fernando Alonso and home town hero Lance Stroll going out together. However, only 11 drivers have set times so far in this session, as many teams opt to save their intermediate tyres.

With 12 minutes to go, only Bottas remains out on track. Sainz has jumped in front of his teammate to go P1 with a 1:27.485. Leclerc, Bottas, Perez, Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Magnussen, Hamilton, Russell, and Gasly round out the top 10. Verstappen is the only other driver to set a time, and remains P11 with less than 10 minutes on the clock. We’re expecting more drivers out, but will anyone chance the slick tyres?

Leclerc is the first man on slicks

With six minutes left on the clock, the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix race winner is the first driver out on track with slick tyres. Leclerc appears to have started a trend with Sainz, Verstappen, and Norris soon following suit. The Mercedes duo, Perez, and Piastri also chance the soft tyres, but Leclerc didn’t approve in sectors one and two compared to Sainz’s previous time on the intermediates. However, the Ferrari driver’s third sector time goes purple, even though Leclerc does some off track rallying in Turn One.

With less than two minutes left, it appears Doohan will only complete one out-lap and a practice start. A huge shame for the Australian driver who had the chance to impress this weekend with a seat available at Alpine for next year.

Bottas causes a momentary yellow flag as he spins and quickly recovers. But he isn’t alone with Ricciardo, Sargeant, Stroll, and Verstappen all doing the same. Meanwhile, the times begin to tumble with the grid now comfortable with the track conditions.

Final classification of free practice 1

While we can’t read too much into the timesheet of this session, with driver risk playing such a huge part, it’s Norris in P1 with a 1:24.435. Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Piastri, Gasly, Bottas, Perez, and Russell round out the top 10. Alonso ended his session down in P15, two places ahead of home hero Stroll. Meanwhile, Doohan ended his limited free practice session down in P19, the Australian was one of three who didn’t set a timed lap in the session.

Final classification of free practice 1 at the Canadian Grand Prix
Final classification of free practice 1 at the Canadian Grand Prix. (Image Credit: @F1 on X)

Feature Image Credit: @F1 on X

One Comment

  1. The first free practise of the weekend wasn’t particularly exciting but what made the session worth watching were the comments made by guest commentator, Jacques Villeneuve. Not only is he informative and knowledgeable, but he doesn’t have a filter on him, meaning, whatever he thinks, he says.
    Of note was the talk of drivers constantly changing their helmet designs – he used one throughout his career.
    As he rightly pointed out, what would have been better? Nico Rosberg not winning the drivers championship in 2016 and instead being remembered for having a different design on his helmet for every race, or concentrating on his racing and not wasting time and energy showing off his latest helmet design?
    I hope we can hear more uncensored commentary from Villeneuve.

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