Practice 1 Report - Monaco streaker in Montreal

By Dan Knutson in Montreal

Fresh off his win in Monaco, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton continued his streak by clocking the fastest time in Free Practice 1 for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 57 degrees Fahrenheit (14 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 89 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Centigrade.)

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Ferrari - Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Williams Mercedes - Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull TAG Heuer - Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen . Force India Mercedes - Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Renault - Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer. Toro Rosso Ferrari - Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz. Sauber Ferrari - Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. McLaren Honda - Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Manor Mercedes - Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto. Haas Ferrari - Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.

Only Rosberg set a time in the early going - a 1:30.434 - but 18 minutes into the session Haryanto had posted a 1:23.056.

No one else did a flying lap until Ricciardo turned a 1:18.430, and then Massa beat that with a 1:17.065. The drivers were getting up to speed now, some 20 minutes into FP1, and Raikkonen topped the times with a 1:16.138.

Then, 25 minutes into FP1, the red flags came out after Massa crashed in Turn 1 after spinning backwards into the barriers and ripping up the rear end of the Williams.

The session was restarted 12 minutes later. But now it was almost at the 40 minute mark, when all the teams must return one set of tires to Pirelli from each driver, so there was another quiet time. The top 10 at this stage were: Raikkonen, Verstappen, Vettel, Massa, Bottas, Ricciardo, Wehrlein, Haryanto, Nasr and Palmer.

Only 14 drivers had set times halfway through the session. With 36 minutes remaining, Rosberg cut his time down to a 1:15.746, whereas Hamilton had done only a 1:19.468. But then Hamilton got going and set a 1:14.980 on Pirelli's super soft compound tires.

With 30 minutes remaining, Verstappen was second and Rosberg third. Turn 14 - the chicane leading on to the pit straight - was having its usual array of corner cutters including Hamilton, Bottas, Grosjean, Ricciardo, Alonso and Verstappen.

Hamilton improved to a 1:14.755 and Rosberg to a 1:15.086. Verstappen was third with his 1:15.553, and Raikkonen fourth with the 1:15.618 he had set earlier.

Then, with 20 minutes remaining, Vettel slid into third with a 1:15.243 using the super soft tires.

The top 10 at the end of FP1 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Perez and Alonso.