Leclerc sets fastest lap as Hamilton crashes in Canada

Charles Leclerc has set the fastest lap on the opening day’s running at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix while Lewis Hamilton crashed out.

The Monegasque headed a Ferrari one-two with Sebastian Vettel less than a tenth of a second slower.

Leclerc’s 1:12.177s proved more than half a second faster than the time managed by Lewis Hamilton in the opening session, and 1.5s faster than his own effort from the morning.

Vettel improved by a similar margin, while Valtteri Bottas in third was only able to find a six-tenth improvement between sessions.

Having been fastest in the morning session, Hamilton fell to just sixth quickest in Practice 2, with Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen both posting faster times than the championship leader.

That was largely due to the Englishman crashing out of the second session at the Turn 8 chicane, swiping the wall with his right rear wheel.

Though he was able to drag the car back to the pits, he then sat out the balance of the session as he fell to sixth in the standings.

Ferrari’s additional pace was found on the soft compound tyre, having initially used the medium in the opening laps before switching over for performance runs later in the session.

Bottas set the early pace on the red walled, soft compound, rubber before Ferrari responded, the leading trio with initially little between them.

Max Verstappen showed promising speed for Red Bull before he tagged the wall.

The Dutchman caught team-mate Pierre Gasly at the final chicane, sliding wide and clouting the wall.

While he too was able to return the car to the pits, he also failed to rejoin the session.

Daniel Ricciardo ended both sessions inside the top 10, eighth fastest in both sessions and closing his deficit to the front of the field from 1.3s to 0.8s.

The second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg was ninth fastest and just over a tenth behind Ricciardo, a four-tenth improvement for the German over his Practice 1 deficit.

Both Racing Points also found themselves inside the 10 at the end of the day with Sergio Perez seventh and Lance Stroll 10th.

Hamilton had topped the earlier session from Bottas, the Mercedes pair almost a second clear of the rest of the field, which was headed by Leclerc.

The session ran largely trouble free, aside from a brief interruption when Antonio Giovinazzi spun, tagging the wall with the rear of his Alfa Romeo which then became stranded on track at Turn 9.

It saw a Virtual Safety Car deployed as his car was retrieved, ending the Italian’s participation in the session with half an hour left on the clock.

Practice continues tomorrow ahead of qualifying, which is scheduled for 1400 local time (0400 Sunday AEST).

Result: Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, Practice 2

Result: Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, Practice 1