Defending champion Hamilton sets pace in Canadian GP practice, Stroll 13th

While drivers struggled to find grip at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Raikkonen was able to put in a brilliant time of one minute, 12.935 seconds.

Vettel was soon fastest before Ricciardo reported “loss of power” as his Red Bull team were hit by the first of their problems on a hard day.

Sebastian Vettel played down his radio comments regarding Lewis Hamilton during Friday practice for the Canadian Grand Prix.

This weekend we will also see the return of Fernando Alonso after his stint at the Indy 500 but it looks like it’s going to be another disappointing weekend for the McLaren team.

“It was a great experience”, he said, “obviously very new for me many things there”.

At this point of my career I consider a good quality of life more important than to do more seasons in F1.

“We have a lot of new things on the auto”.

“I think it’s going to be very close again and I’m already looking forward to the qualifying”, Bottas said. “The race was incredible”. Only Michael Schumacher, with a record seven wins at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, has celebrated more success.

Hamilton had a different problem: steering clear of a groundhog that wandered onto the track in the morning session.

Formula 1’s title contenders do not want to talk about their championship battle, ahead of the seventh out of 20 races on the 2017 calendar. This year, the drivers had a choice of the soft, super soft and ultra soft Pirelli compounds. Then came Nico Hulkenberg for Renault, Carlos Sainz for Toro Rosso and Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas vehicle. The Mercedes duo had yet to venture out at all.

On the other hand not only has Ferrari caught up a great deal in the power stakes this season, but previous year Sebastian Vettel was less than 0.2 seconds off Lewis Hamilton’s pole position time, signalling a shrinking of even this fine margin in this new near-equal era. Perez, nearly immediately, spun at Turn Two.

Raikkonen then improved to go quickest, with Hamilton moving up into second and Vettel demoted to third. Hometown driver Stroll was 11th. Alonso’s comments follow quotes in the media from McLaren boss Zak Brown suggesting strained relations with power unit supplier Honda. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Renault 1:14.604 13.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo may have avoided any spins, but that was only because he was in the garage for FP2 with an engine problem. It is a demanding track made up of high-speed straights and tight corners, where drivers slam on the brakes for almost 20 percent of the race.

Frenchman Esteban Ocon and his Force India team-mate Mexican Sergio Perez were eighth and 10th either side of Russian Daniil Kvyat in his Toro Rosso. Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas) 1:16.233 (25), 13.