Kimi Antonelli leads Mercedes 1-2 in chaotic Montreal FP1
Kimi Antonelli set the pace in the sole practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix, topping FP1 with a 1m13.402s and leading a Mercedes one-two ahead of George Russell, who was 0.142s adrift on a 1m13.544s. The result hinted at a clear pace advantage from Mercedes' upgraded W17 package. Lewis Hamilton was third, 0.774s off Antonelli, followed by Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri — though Piastri had earlier posted a 1m14.963s and Verstappen an earlier benchmark of 1m15.895s before the order shook out.
Clean running was hard to come by. The 60-minute session — the only practice on the Sprint weekend — was red-flagged three times and extended by 19 minutes, though Total Motorsport reported the addition as 15. Alex Albon's heavy crash into the Turn 7 wall after striking a groundhog triggered a stoppage of roughly 15 minutes. Liam Lawson stopped with a technical issue described variously as a power-steering fault (PlanetF1) or a power loss exiting Turn 2 that brought out a VSC (F1 Oversteer). Esteban Ocon hit the Turn 7 wall, lost his front wing, and faced a post-session investigation over a possible pit-exit under a red light, while Franco Colapinto pulled up with a suspected electrical throttle problem, radioing in that his throttle wasn't working.
Layered on top of the incidents, the FIA used FP1 to trial a new rear-light MGU-K derating system, with the trial lights reported to flash blue, purple, and yellow to warn of derating. Between the competitive lap times, the multiple stoppages, and the technical trial, teams and officials were left to sort through damage, reliability questions, and the light-derating data ahead of Sprint Qualifying.
