Mercedes
Antonelli locked up at the start of FP1, perhaps a little surprised by the incredibly dusty track which was catching out most of the drivers. Russell too had a moment, going for a spot of lawn mowing midway through the session. But he did look quick on the softs, landing solidly in P4 on the timing sheet. That form continued in the second session, Russell quickest on both the soft and medium tyre as he impressed for the Silver Arrows. Antonelli managed to get on top of his warm up issues on the C6 tyre and backed up his team mate well in P3, which bodes very well for Mercedes heading into Qualifying day.
George Russell - FP1: 1:13.535, P4; FP2: 1:12.123, P1
"It’s nice to top the timing screens but it is only Friday. That said, it has been a positive day for us as a team. We came into the weekend with the expectation that the cooler temperatures and smoother tarmac here would suit us and today at least, that seemed to be the case. I managed to hook up a strong lap in FP2 and probably optimised the car we had. That may have flattered us slightly, but we can hopefully be in the mix with the usual suspects over the rest of the weekend.
"It will be interesting to see what the tyre strategy is in Qualifying. With the C6 compound, the gap between the Soft and the Medium over a single lap is not as pronounced as it is when at the harder end of the compound range. Many teams, including ourselves, opted to only use a single set of Medium tyres today so have the option of deploying that tomorrow."
Kimi Antonelli - FP1: 1:14.002, P13; FP2: 1:12.411, P3
"Today was a good day for us as a team. Both our single lap and long run work were competitive, and I felt good with the car. We will keep pushing overnight to be in a good position for tomorrow, but we’ve given ourselves a solid base to work from. The cooler conditions and smooth track definitely helped us, but I think we’ve also made progress with the car as it felt more connected than in recent races.
"This track is a new one for me and I had a lot of fun out there. It’s not the easiest circuit to drive, particularly in FP1 when it was very dirty off line. I’ve continued to progress as the day went on and by the end of FP2, I felt comfortable out there. I also made a step with my ability to get the most out of the C6 tyre. I struggled with it in Imola and Monaco, but I worked hard on it today and felt like I made solid progress."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"This was one of our more positive Fridays from a pace point of view. We expected the track to be better suited to our car than some recent circuits, with the cooler conditions helping on the long run too. Nevertheless, we seemed to get the car in a solid place and make the most of both sessions today. We’ve done plenty of work on high fuel and have a decent read on where we need to focus to find further improvements.
"George has performed strongly here in previous seasons and showed good pace in both FP1 and FP2. A strong lap gave him the fastest time of the day and his long run compared well to the others. For Kimi, this is his first experience of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but he got up to speed quickly. By the end of the day, he was getting closer to his teammate and P3 was a good end to his Friday.
"Whilst today has been good by recent standards, it’s clear that quite a few cars could be in the fight at the front in qualifying. On the long run, the picture looked very close with the usual suspects so we will have to be at our best across the rest of the weekend if we want to turn today’s promise into good results on Sunday."
McLaren
McLaren looked to be benchmarking their new upgrades in FP1, with Piastri running aero rakes in the early stages while Norris was sporting some flow vis paint at times. Neither driver seemed too concerned with chasing lap time, although the Aussie did complain of traffic which compromised his flying lap while Norris was struggling with grip – especially at Turn 10. But there was more of the same for the pair in FP2, despite reverting to an older spec front wing. Norris did manage to get within touching distance of Russell, but his car was still looking tricky to handle while Piastri’s best lap only merited P6 on an oddly lacklustre day for the team.
Oscar Piastri - FP1: 1:14.198, P14; FP2: 1:12.562, P6
“It’s been an interesting Friday. It’s been a little bit tricky at points, but it’s also looked good at points. I think the competition looks very close, and there’s still work to do on which tyres will be best for Qualifying. We’ll analyse what we can do overnight and see where we can find a bit more.”
Lando Norris - FP1: 1:13.651, P7; FP2: 1:12.151, P2
“A tricky Friday, but it’s a tricky track. It’s a lot of fun to drive, but it’s just low grip with a lot of bumps. I think we’re there or thereabouts, but we’ve got a few improvements to make overnight to put us in the best position for Qualifying. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”
Red Bull
Verstappen topped the opening session, despite complaining about his steering in the early stages. He had one hairy moment though, forced to pop a wheel on the grass when he was overtaking Hamilton’s Ferrari. He faded in FP2, as did Tsunoda, both dropping down the order. The team did not expect this track to necessarily play to their strengths, but there is more time for Verstappen on the table after he opted to run the softs earlier than most in FP2, and thus did not have the best of track evolution when setting his fastest lap time.
Max Verstappen - FP1: 1:13.193, P1; FP2: 1:12.666, P9
“Today was alright to be honest. In FP1 we felt quite happy in the car but FP2 was a bit more difficult for other reasons. There was a bit less balance and we felt a bit less comfortable in the car, which we need to investigate, but overall I think it was quite a positive day for us. If we can get it back to what it felt in FP1 we will go well. Tomorrow for qualifying, let’s see. There is still one more session to get it right, we just need to get it in a good window and we can see how far we can get in Qualifying."
Yuki Tsunoda - FP1: 1:13.927, P11; FP2: 1:12.939, P15
“The feeling in the car was okay today. We are making some adjustments for tomorrow, which is good and will give us some lap time. We also made good progress with the setup and balance but it wasn’t enough in the end today. The target for tomorrow is to be in Q3 and to maximise our results."
Ferrari
Leclerc had the first big moment of the weekend, locking up and running across the grass to clip the inside barriers at Turn 3. That broke his suspension and sent him into the wall at Turn 4, bringing out the red flags. It wasn’t a clean start for Hamilton either, who had a spin early on and also ran wide later in the session. Leclerc’s crash damaged the chassis, meaning he was unable to take part in FP2. That left Hamilton gathering all the data for the team, which he did – winding up in the top 10 after running the medium and soft tyre in the second session.
Charles Leclerc - FP1: 1.13.885, P10; FP2: No time set
"In FP1, it was a small lockup with big consequences. Most of all, I feel bad for the team, because we couldn’t run for the rest of the first session and all of FP2. Other than that, I felt comfortable in the car which was positive, so I don’t think that what happened today should have any impact on the rest of the weekend for us."
Lewis Hamilton - FP1: 1:13.620, P5; FP2: 1:12.653, P8
"The car felt good to drive, but we’re currently lacking a bit of pace and saw some graining on the long runs. We’ll keep working overnight to get the car in a better performance window for tomorrow."
Williams
Williams had a brilliant start to their weekend, as the only cars to finish within a tenth of Verstappen’s leading time. Albon just pipped Sainz, despite a decidedly dicey moment where he narrowly avoiding colliding with Bortolato’s Kick Sauber, the Brazilian on a quick lap with some definite miscommunication over who was taking which line. In FP2 again Williams looked quick, their car handling well on a day where many were struggling for rear grip. Albon’s time for P4 was set on the medium tyre, while Sainz was not too much further back in seventh.
Alex Albon - FP1: 1:13.232, P2; FP2: 1:12.445, P4
"Very positive day. We hit the ground running; we were maybe running a different programme to everyone else in FP1 but FP2 felt okay. The base car is strong, we’ve got a good package underneath us and Q3 is well within our targets tomorrow. However, we’ve still got work to do to improve the car and that’s good as it shows there’s a bigger envelope that we need to explore. At the same time because we are quick, we don’t want to change too much, so there is a balance to strike."
Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:13.275, P3; FP2: 1:12.631, P7
"Good feeling today. Being realistic, FP1 was a bit misleading in terms of our position on the time sheets, but in FP2 we were still fighting in the top 10, so we’re more or less where we expected to be. There is still more work to do ahead of tomorrow, but we seem to be in good form. We’ll focus on tyre strategy and continue building up the confidence around this circuit."
Racing Bulls
Hadjar started the weekend brightly, finishing solidly in the top 10. Lawson was not too far back, as Racing Bulls enjoyed a strong opening session. While they both again looked quick in FP2, neither could get a fully clean lap in thanks to traffic. Both Hadjar and Lawson were frustrated, voicing their opinions over the radio as rivals thwarted their efforts. The team will need to find them some clean air come Qualifying, as in it they look to have Q3 potential.
Isack Hadjar - FP1: 1:13.631, P6; FP2: 1:12.799, P11
“It’s my first time driving here in Montréal and it’s nice to see that we’ve been competitive straight away since this morning. It was just a messy session this afternoon in FP2 due to the traffic but we’re confident going to tomorrow. I believe Q1 will be tough traffic-wise, but then Q2 and Q3 will be easier, and getting through these sessions is obviously our realistic target. It’s a small and fast circuit, so I’m sure the gap between each car will be really close, so it will be important to put it all together in Qualifying without making mistakes."
Liam Lawson - FP1: 1:13.737, P8; FP2: 1:12.751, P10
“Personally, it's been a positive and fun day. It's a cool track and a place I've wanted to come to for a long time, so I enjoyed it. It's very close, so we need to keep pushing the limits and finding every bit of speed we can. Traffic is tough here being a small circuit, but that's something we all have to deal with. The car has been very strong recently, so as long as we keep chasing the balance through the weekend, we can be hopeful of reaching Q3 tomorrow.”
Alan Permane, Racing Director
“Today was quite a typical Friday for Montréal, with the track starting off a bit dirty and the grip improving each lap throughout the day. It’s been about our drivers getting up to speed on a track that’s new for them, with low downforce, kerbs to jump over and walls to avoid. Things have been decent though on both low and high fuel. Both drivers caught traffic on their fastest laps but that’s a feature of this narrow track and everyone will need to be on their toes for the busy Q1 session tomorrow afternoon. Overall we are happy with the car balance on both low and high fuel but will of course be looking to see where we can extract some more laptime overnight.”
Aston Martin
Stroll’s comeback session seemed to go well, the Canadian managing to complete all of his programme with relative ease out there. He wound up a few places behind his team mate in FP1, but his afternoon then took a turn for the worse. On his first push lap in FP2, the Canadian understeered into the wall and broke the front corner of his car. That ended his session very early as he was forced to park up down an escape road. Alonso gathered the team’s data, running two sets of the soft tyres as Aston Martin seem set to hold back the medium compound for Qualifying.
Fernando Alonso - FP1: 1:13.972, P12; FP2: 1:12.458, P5
"The car felt okay for us today but it's not an easy circuit to put everything together around. The tyres seem to have a very small window too. We know the track is getting grippier throughout the weekend, so in Qualifying we will need to be focused on achieving a clean lap at the right time."
Lance Stroll - FP1: 1:14.203, P15; FP2: No time set
"Feels good to be back in Canada and I'm happy to be back in the car. We've made some setup changes to the car ahead of Canada but unfortunately I had a bit of understeering in FP2 and touched the wall, therefore we didn't get to learn about the changes we made as much. So it's tough to say how the car feels around this track, but we'll restart and go again tomorrow."
Alpine
Colapinto managed to spin on his opening push lap in FP1, caught out by the lack of grip out there. He soon settled down and managed plenty of laps as he began to learn a track that is new to him. Gasly knows this track much better, and despite his predictions that Alpine would struggle here, wound up in the top 10. He wasn’t too much further back in FP2, but once again Colapinto struggled. He spun again and wound up propping up the field, finishing over a second behind his team mate.
Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:13.817, P9; FP2: 1:12.874, P12
“I think the general picture on our side is okay after today’s Practice sessions. I am relatively happy, and we will see what we can do to improve a few things. We do know where we lack so it gives us some areas to really focus on. Once again it is so tight amongst a number of cars so every single detail will count and maybe it will take a little bit of magic tomorrow in Qualifying to make the difference between a number of positions. Again, we have the C6 compound here, so we have more to learn on that tyre to see how to maximise it. First things first, we have to try to get the car in the best place possible and our hard work will continue tonight going into the rest of the weekend.”
Franco Colapinto - FP1: 1:14.645, P19; FP2: 1:13.898, P18
“Today was not the easiest of Practice days and in general I was struggling a lot in the slow speed corners. The car does not feel as connected as we would like, and I am still struggling with the balance. When I try to go to the limit the car is not staying there or giving me the confidence. But this is what Friday is for and to learn what changes to make in order to improve the feeling with the car. The long run on high fuel felt much more positive and the car felt much better. So, we need to understand why that is and translate that also to low fuel. I think there is enough potential to do a good job tomorrow and put everything together. We turned around the weekend in Spain from one day to the next with the changes we made so there is certainly margin to improve.”
Kick Sauber
Kick Sauber are still learning about their upgrade package, with both Hulkenberg and Bortoleto managing a good haul of laps in FP1. The German did kiss the Wall of Champions though, cutting his racing line a little bit fine for a practice session. He wasn’t the only one to have a moment, Bortoleto’s quick thinking making sure he avoided a crash with Albon when the duo found themselves squabbling over the same piece of track. Fortunately for the team, their second session was slightly tamer, although Bortoleto this time found himself frustrated by the antics of the other Williams when he was on his race simulation runs late on.
Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:14.821, P20; FP2: 1:12.914, P14
“Overall, a solid Friday for us. The circuit is as tight and technical as ever, and with such a short lap, you really have to stay on top of things. Compared to Barcelona, it’s a completely different challenge—much lower downforce and a focus on low-speed corners, which definitely changes the approach. We worked through the usual Friday program and made several setup changes between FP1 and FP2, which gave us some valuable insights. The tyres were a bit of a surprise—the softs held up better than expected, which could have an impact this weekend. We’ll go through all the data tonight and see where we can make some gains ahead of tomorrow.”
Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:14.324, P16; FP2: 1:2.896, P13
"It was a very positive start for our weekend today. Being my first time on this track, I was really focused on understanding how Montreal works, and I'm satisfied with the very solid session we had. Looking at the progress we've made, particularly in terms of understanding the car and the work we did to put it into a good operating window for tomorrow I have to say, that I am really happy. Overnight, we’ll dive deeper into some specific areas we've identified: there's plenty we can study to ensure we're better positioned ahead of qualifying. It’s tricky to predict where everyone is going to be, as we have seen that, once again, the field is extremely tight. Here it will also mean to run a clean qualifying lap without traffic which was already an issue today and will likely play a significant role tomorrow. Whoever manages to find the best position on track and secure a clean lap will have an advantage. Hopefully qualifying will run cleanly and smoothly for everyone."
Haas
Haas are celebrating their 200th Grand Prix in Canada, with a special retro livery. While they had plenty of track time in FP1, neither driver seemed to be lighting up the leaderboard as they slowly built into their weekend. The same pattern followed in FP2, Bearman and Ocon keeping out of trouble but not looking particularly quick out there. The team have work to do overnight to see if they can extract some more pace from the car, in what is a very tightly packed midfield.
Esteban Ocon – FP1: 1:14.605, P18; FP2: 1:113.175, P17
“It was interesting to get some laps in proper conditions as last year the track was wet all weekend, and we only had one session in the dry. Today is all about understanding to get a good qualifying tomorrow. We have a clear direction, it’s very close out there and execution will need to be perfect in qualifying, but this is what we’re working on, and if we do this we should be in the mix.”
Oliver Bearman - FP1: 1:14.520, P17; FP2: 1:13.898, P18
“It’s been a tough day, but this afternoon was definitely better than this morning. We made some changes for the afternoon and that’s moved us in the right direction and closed the gap in the midfield, but we still have a bit of work to do tonight before tomorrow. The kerb riding has been difficult, but we were expecting that going into this weekend as it’s a bit of a trait on our car. We’re a bit down on performance, so let’s see what we can do overnight – we often perform better on Saturday than we do on Friday.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“I think overall, it was a clean Friday. We completed run programs as planned, driver feedback was good, and we gathered lots of data to improve the car from FP1 to FP2. There’s more to find – in both low and high-fuel, but the main thing is that we had a clean Friday, so we got everything we needed to improve the car for tomorrow and Sunday.”
Pirelli
Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer
“It’s been a very interesting first day, for several reasons. For the third time we brought the new C6 and were able to confirm its characteristics. It is undoubtedly pretty close to the C5 in terms of outright performance, but all things considered it is still faster. The fact that the fastest time of the day was set on Mediums is not that significant, as the track conditions evolved considerably over the course of the two sessions and from one session to the next. Furthermore, Russell adopted a different approach to usual, running first on the Soft and then the Medium, so that on the latter compound, he benefited from the increased grip level as the track rubbered-in. Finally, it’s worth noting that in these relatively cool temperatures, the C6 proved able to recover a good level of performance even beyond the first timed lap. “In fact, the topic of temperatures is definitely a factor to take into account when evaluating today, looking ahead to the race. It should be warmer and sunnier on Sunday and the track could be as much as ten degrees hotter than it was this afternoon, as the race gets underway at 14.00 while the second free practice started at 17.00.
READ MORE: HIGHLIGHTS: Catch the action as Russell tops second practice in Canada
"We saw teams adopt a different approach to tyre use compared to what is normally the case on Fridays. Some teams used two sets of Medium and two of Soft, while others have already used one set of Hard, although the majority opted to use one set of C5 and three of C6. The level of graining was quite high today, but the situation should improve, even if it is hard to say if this phenomenon will disappear completely in the race. In terms of degradation, we saw that the Medium and Hard performed rather well, but as mentioned previously, the higher temperatures could mix things up a bit.
"As for strategy, the fact that nine of the ten teams have kept two sets of Hard is a clear indication that this will be the main tyre for the race, with the Soft unlikely to put in an appearance. It will be interesting to see how the teams will tackle qualifying, both in terms of using the Medium and managing the Softs, as there is still a free practice session tomorrow. Simulations indicate that a two-stop is the quickest strategy and for the moment, there is no indication that this could change, but we will know more tomorrow afternoon.”
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