Three drivers already in trouble after early Canada setbacks

Barely a second covered 17 Formula 1 drivers in Canadian Grand Prix practice - with the other three left with a lot of work to do for qualifying on Saturday, for different reasons.

Charles Leclerc did not even participate in FP2 in Montreal, Lance Stroll failed to set a laptime in front of his home crowd, and Franco Colapinto was cut adrift in 18th place, 1.775 seconds off the pace and more than seven tenths slower than the next car. 

Leclerc’s FP2 absence, due to an ongoing chassis change, carried the biggest penalty given it was a legacy of a crash quite early in FP1. The Ferrari driver shunted with just nine laps to his name, and only three of those were relevant flying laps.

It was an unusual accident with Leclerc going over the grass run-off and hitting the wall between Turns 3 and 4.

With McLaren generally looking at least a little vulnerable in both sessions, this could be an opportunity that Ferrari can’t afford to miss - especially with one of its more direct championship rivals, Mercedes, having a strong day.

But Lewis Hamilton was half a second off the pace in eighth, so Friday was tricky for Ferrari. The only silver lining for Leclerc is that he has had to bounce back from setbacks before, and his prodigious one-lap pace means it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see him challenge or even beat Hamilton on Saturday - even with only one practice to get up to speed. 

“In FP1, it was a small lockup with big consequences,” said Leclerc. 

“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.”

Stroll setback

Stroll’s immediate return to the cockpit after missing the Spanish Grand Prix due to pain in his right hand and wrist has been accompanied by a lot of questions and scrutiny. 

He made a good step towards moving on from that with a solid run in opening practice, which ended with Stroll just over two tenths slower than team-mate Fernando Alonso. 

There was no indication of Stroll struggling with a hand problem or a consequence of whatever corrective procedure he underwent following his Barcelona withdrawal, which seemed to immediately validate his confidence that he was fine to take part this weekend. 

But if that was a reasonable foundation, it fell apart quickly in FP2, when Stroll quite carelessly ran wide exiting the Turn 6-7 chicane at the start of the middle sector and slapped the outside wall with his front left.

It was a reasonable hit, if innocuous enough on first viewing - but it caused an immediate collapse of the front left suspension, and Stroll was forced to park the car a few corners later. 

That came on Stroll’s first flying lap in FP2 so he is down on mileage and playing catch-up in more ways than one, given Alonso looks typically on it having made a great step in second practice to set the fifth-fastest time. 

Unsurprisingly, he ended the day not in the mood to talk, as his answers to six different questions to F1’s cameras after practice amounted to a total of 71 words in about 40 seconds of conversation.

Colapinto adrift again

Franco Colapinto has been too slow on Fridays in his Alpine stint so far, and that continued in Canada. 

Across Imola, Monaco and Spain, Colapinto had been on average 0.836s slower than team-mate Pierre Gasly in FP1 and FP2. 

This has left him with too much work to do to catch up on Saturday, and played a big part in Colapinto’s run since replacing Jack Doohan being a lot less impressive than when he was parachuted in at Williams last year. 

Unfortunately, in Montreal, it looks like more of the same. In fact, Colapinto was almost bang on his usual Friday deficit - 0.828s slower than Gasly in FP1, and 1.024s off in FP2 (a gap exaggerated by Colapinto spinning at the start of a qualifying simulation, and therefore going slower in the second session than Gasly had managed in the first). 

Given Colapinto was only 19th-fastest in FP1, this looks very much like a legitimate struggle for pace as he tries to learn a new track as quickly as possible and continues to have issues with how the Alpine behaves at low speed. 

“It's just the car doesn't feel very connected and I'm just struggling a lot with the balance and with the confidence with the car,” he said. 

“When I try to go to the limit, combining the corners, the car is not really staying there and I'm just struggling generally with that.”

Colapinto thinks his long-run pace was more competitive. While a big low-fuel step should be expected across FP3 and qualifying, a massive one is needed to be anywhere close to Gasly when it counts. 

If he pulls it off, it could be the start of a turnaround Colapinto desperately needs.