Sainz and Alonso escort the Mercedes in free practice with technical problems and final rain

2023-06-17 01:15:58

British driver Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) led this Friday in free practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth round of the Formula 1 World Championshipafter dominating the second and only round that could be completed, just ahead of his compatriot George Russell and also from the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).

The day started with almost no action in Free Practice 1 due to a technical problem with the security camera system, which lengthened the red flag caused by Pierre Gasly (Alpine). There had been barely three laps of the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit when the French driver’s car stopped in sector 2.

The Spanish Fernando Alonso was there third, an anecdotal position due to the appearance of the red flag. After removing Gasly’s car, the session continued to be interrupted without explanation until the FIA ​​said that the failure in the cameras prevented it from resuming. The improvements for Alonso’s car were still up in the air, as were those of the other drivers.

The problem was not solved and he ate the first free, where Max Verstappen (Red Bull) wanted to be intractable from his World Cup leadership. Meanwhile, Mercedes was looking to confirm the step forward that he took in Barcelona. The spotlights were also on Sainz’s Ferrari, to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth of having been fifth in Montmeló.

With these unknowns the second session began, extended half an hour longer than usual to compensate for what happened with the cameras. In total, it was 90 minutes with a surprise guest in the rain. The teams had a 40% probability of data, but it was not until the final moments that the Montreal sky opened up a bit.

The omen of the raincoats

With 14 minutes remaining, raincoats were fastened in the stands, the fans expectant after another discreet session. The fault had been a couple more red flags, the first of them for a ‘black smoke’ in the Haas of the German Nico Hülkenberg. Then it was the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) who was left standing next to a wall.

Sainz had led until the restart after that second red flag, just ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc. However, the Mercedes team decided to push in case it rained. Betting on the intermediate tire instead of the soft, the strategy worked and Hamilton set a best lap of 1:13.718.

That helped him to lead Russell by 0.027, both signing the Mercedes double before facing the Saturday day. Sainz’s and Alonso’s single-seaters gave good performance, finishing respectively in third and fourth position. From behind, getting rid of the downpour with a sigh, Leclerc and Verstappen finished.