Hamilton ahead in first practice at Montreal

F1 Grand Prix, GP Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet of the first practice session in preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix, using Pirelli's red marked super soft tyre. Nico Rosberg was second fastest, 3 tenths down on his team mate and on the ultra softs.

Behind the leading Mercedes duo was Sebastian Vettel, leading Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas.

Bottas' team mate, Felipe Massa, endured a difficult session, crashing out heavily just 25 minutes into the session. An issue with the team's new rear wing that left the DRS flap partially open, made for a reduction of rear downforce which the Brazilian hadn't expected. He lost control under braking, ending his session early and handing his team's mechanics a lot of work to get the car repaired.

As is usual, numerous drivers ended up running off track, albeit nobody but Massa with damage. Bottas was one of those, even though that was not due to a mistake of his own, as he ended up at turn 8 at high speed, whereas Verstappen was running into that corner extremely slowly. The Dutchman later received a reprimand for the stewards for impeding the Williams driver.