Verstappen, Russell Make Fast Start In Canada

George Russell was quickest come the end of the first day of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. The Mercedes driver stopped the clocks in 1’12”123 in the second free practice session, a time just 28 thousandths of a second quicker than Lando Norris (McLaren).

It was a strong showing for Mercedes as Andrea Kimi Antonelli was third in 1’12”411. It’s worth noting that the top seven drivers on the time sheet were all driving cars fitted with the Mercedes power unit. Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll failed to set a time in FP2: the Ferrari driver took no part in proceedings, as his car was damaged in FP1, while the local driver clipped the wall at the exit to turn 7, breaking the front left suspension.

In the first hour, Racing Bulls and Sauber were the only two teams to use the Medium, while the other 16 drivers used the Soft. In the second session, Sauber once again stood out, its drivers using a set of Hards, while Alonso used only two sets of the C6.

George Russell – Fastest in FP2

“It’s nice to top the timing screens but it is only Friday. That said, it has been a positive day for us as a team. We came into the weekend with the expectation that the cooler temperatures and smoother tarmac here would suit us and today at least, that seemed to be the case. I managed to hook up a strong lap in FP2 and probably optimised the car we had. That may have flattered us slightly, but we can hopefully be in the mix with the usual suspects over the rest of the weekend.
 
“It will be interesting to see what the tyre strategy is in Qualifying. With the C6 compound, the gap between the Soft and the Medium over a single lap is not as pronounced as it is when at the harder end of the compound range. Many teams, including ourselves, opted to only use a single set of Medium tyres today so have the option of deploying that tomorrow.”

Max Verstappen – Fastest in FP1

“Today was alright to be honest. In FP1 we felt quite happy in the car but FP2 was a bit more difficult for other reasons. There was a bit less balance and we felt a bit less comfortable in the car, which we need to investigate, but overall I think it was quite a positive day for us. If we can get it back to what it felt in FP1 we will go well. Tomorrow for qualifying, let’s see. There is still one more session to get it right, we just need to get it in a good window and we can see how far we can get in Qualifying.”

Simone Berra – Pirelli Chief Engineer

“It’s been a very interesting first day, for several reasons. For the third time we brought the new C6 and were able to confirm its characteristics. It is undoubtedly pretty close to the C5 in terms of outright performance, but all things considered it is still faster. The fact that the fastest time of the day was set on Mediums is not that significant, as the track conditions evolved considerably over the course of the two sessions and from one session to the next. Furthermore, Russell adopted a different approach to usual, running first on the Soft and then the Medium, so that on the latter compound, he benefited from the increased grip level as the track rubbered-in. Finally, it’s worth noting that in these relatively cool temperatures, the C6 proved able to recover a good level of performance even beyond the first timed lap. “In fact, the topic of temperatures is definitely a factor to take into account when evaluating today, looking ahead to the race. It should be warmer and sunnier on Sunday and the track could be as much as ten degrees hotter than it was this afternoon, as the race gets underway at 14.00 while the second free practice started at 17.00.

“We saw teams adopt a different approach to tyre use compared to what is normally the case on Fridays. Some teams used two sets of Medium and two of Soft, while others have already used one set of Hard, although the majority opted to use one set of C5 and three of C6. The level of graining was quite high today, but the situation should improve, even if it is hard to say if this phenomenon will disappear completely in the race. In terms of degradation, we saw that the Medium and Hard performed rather well, but as mentioned previously, the higher temperatures could mix things up a bit.

“As for strategy, the fact that nine of the ten teams have kept two sets of Hard is a clear indication that this will be the main tyre for the race, with the Soft unlikely to put in an appearance. It will be interesting to see how the teams will tackle qualifying, both in terms of using the Medium and managing the Softs, as there is still a free practice session tomorrow. Simulations indicate that a two-stop is the quickest strategy and for the moment, there is no indication that this could change, but we will know more tomorrow afternoon.”