Defending Formula One champion Max Verstappen was fastest in both practice sessions Friday ahead of Formula One’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
After posting a best lap of 1:15.158s around Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in the first practice, Verstappen put down a lap of 1:14.127 in the second session.
The top five in the second session was completed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso for Alpine.
Leclerc was only 0.081s off Verstappen’s pace. However, he’ll have a 10 spot grid penalty after changing his engine.
“It was a positive day, of course there are always things that you can look at to try and find the complete balance, but overall today was a good start to the weekend,” Verstappen said. “The softest compound is always the hardest one to nail, so I think there’s definitely more time to find in that, even then we have a competitive car so that’s good. The long run was good, it’s still hard on tyres around here so there’s still a few things to work on. Even with the things I want to improve, it was still a good day. If it rains in qualifying, it’s the same for everyone, we just deal with it. It’s good to see that for Sunday we should have a competitive car so whatever happens tomorrow, we will see.”
Yuki Tsunoda will start from the rear Sunday after an engine change.
F-1’s trip to Canada is the ninth race weekend of the year for the series.
Verstappen enters the race with five wins on the year to LeClerc’s two.
The series will hold a third practice and qualifying tomorrow.