Max Verstappen topped the opening Formula 1 practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix, which was briefly halted by a huge crash for Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc smashed his Ferrari into the barriers at Turn 3, having locked up into the corner, run wide onto the grass and collected the inside barrier, damaging both ends of his Ferrari and leaving him up against the barrier at Turn 4.
That ended Leclerc’s FP1 less than 15 minutes into the session, leaving team-mate Lewis Hamilton as Ferrari’s sole representative in the session.
Verstappen fastest
Verstappen ended the 60-minute session as the fastest driver on a 1m13.193s, just shy of 1.2s slower than the time both he and polesitter George Russell set in Canadian GP qualifying last year.
His nearest challengers were the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, both within a tenth of Verstappen’s benchmark.
Team boss James Vowles told Sky Sports F1 that his team was “running ahead” of its rivals in terms of runplans, so he doesn’t expect Williams to stay there come qualifying.
George Russell was fourth for Mercedes ahead of ex-team-mate Hamilton, the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Lando Norris’s McLaren.
Norris was testing a revised front suspension on the McLaren in FP1, which has the aim of giving the drivers better predictability behind the wheel.
The top 10 was rounded out by Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly and Leclerc, who was fastest before he went into the barriers.
Leclerc wasn't the only driver to be caught out with Franco Colapinto, Norris, Russell and Hamilton all having spins or brief off-track excursions.
2025 Canadian Grand Prix FP1 results
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m13.193s
2 Alexander Albon (Williams) +0.039s
3 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.082s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.342s
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.427s
6 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.438s
7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.458s
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.544s
9 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +0.624s
10 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.692s
11 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.734s
12 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.779s
13 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.809s
14 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.005s
15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.010s
16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber) +1.131s
17 Oliver Bearman (Haas F1 Team) +1.327s
18 Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team) +1.412s
19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.452s
20 Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber) +1.628s
