Raikkonen sets the pace in Canadian GP practice

Kimi Raikkonen ended the opening day of the Canadian Grand Prix on top of the time sheets ahead of Lewis Hamilton as the Ferrari versus Mercedes battle heats up.

There’s little between the two leading teams this weekend, Raikkonen’s best time was set on the ultrasoft tyres, the 1:12.935 set before attention from teams switched to long-run pace.

Having been fastest in opening practice, Lewis Hamilton ended the day second fastest with a 1:13.150 also on ultrasoft tyres, a difference of 0.215s to Raikkonen.

Sebastian Vettel was third best despite a number of pirouettes on at 1:13.200, with Valtteri Bottas fourth with a 1:13.310.

In comparison to the Ferraris, the two Mercedes struggled with tyre preparation, needing two laps to bring their tyres into the window, while Ferrari was able to attack sooner.

Daniel Ricciardo endured a tough day, setting just the ninth fastest time in the opening session before a loss of power halted his running early in the second.

It saw the Australian climb from the car as Red Bull with a Renault engine failure and left him languishing in just 15th in the timesheets.

There were woes for Max Verstappen in the sister car too as he rolled to a stop, a suspected transmission failure forcing a red flag with just under 20-minutes left on the clock in Practice 2.

Strong pace from the two Force Indias saw Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon lock out the third row of the grid in the first 90-minute session.

The duo wasn’t able to repeat that effort later in the day though remained competitive inside the top ten, with Ocon the better placed in eighth.

A hydraulics problem saw Fernando Alonso’s return to Formula 1 crawl to a halt early in the opening practice session.

The McLaren driver logged just three laps, having sat in the garage for the first hour of the 90-minute session, and with the problems arrying over to Practice 2, the Spaniard’s day was heavily compromised.

He did emerge late in the second session, recording the seventh best time courtesy of a fresh set of ultrasoft tyres in the dying seconds of the session.

Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne enjoyed a trouble-free day, though the Belgian was more than two seconds off the pace.

Problems for Carlos Sainz saw the Toro Rosso driver grind to a halt after just a single lap in the morning session, his car blowing smoke from the rear end.

He was back on track in second practice, recording the 13th best time, while team-mate Daniil Kvyat was ninth.

Three spins in the second session left Romain Grosjean frustrated at Haas, venting his displeasure back to the team via the radio.

The Frenchman wasn’t the only one to find himself pointing the wrong way, with the dusty circuit catching out a number of others including both Ferrari and Mercedes drivers.

Result: Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix Practice 2

Result: Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix Practice 1