FP1: Verstappen beats Sainz and Alonso to top opening practice for the Canadian Grand Prix

Championship leader Max Verstappen kicked off his Canadian Grand Prix weekend in style as he set the quickest time in opening practice, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz second and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso third.

Verstappen, who complained about clipping – when the engine runs out of battery power at the end of the straights – throughout the session, clocked a 1m 15.158s around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, which returns to the F1 calendar for the first time since 2019.

The Red Bull driver was 0.246s clear of Sainz, the duo both running the medium tyre to set their quickest time, with Alonso a surprise third and showing strong and consistent pace on his long run.

Sergio Perez was fourth in the sister Red Bull, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc half a second off the pace in fifth, the two-time winner in 2022 fitting a new internal combustion engine, MGU-H, MGU-K and control electronics without penalty for this weekend’s event.

George Russell got the better of his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton once more in sixth, 0.7s adrift, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll splitting the Silver Arrows in front of his home crowd.

Sebastian Vettel, a tenth behind Aston Martin team mate Stroll was ninth, with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 10. It wasn’t as smooth sailing for his team mate Lando Norris, who spent the final part of the session in the garage. He managed just 17 laps – the lowest tally of all – and ended up 12th quickest.

Pierre Gasly was 11th, his AlphaTauri team mate Yuki Tsunoda – who kissed the wall - only a tenth slower in 14th. However, the Japanese driver will start from the back of the grid after taking a full new power unit, four components of which have triggered penalties for exceeding his allocation.

Alex Albon was an encouraging 13th for Williams, with Alpine's Esteban Ocon recovering from some smoking brakes early on after he picked up some paper, 15th, a fraction ahead of the leading Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas.

Zhou Guanyu was seven-tenths of a second slower than his Alfa Romeo team mate in 17th, ahead of Mick Schumacher in the leading Haas. Williams' Nicholas Latifi, who is competing in his first home Grand Prix, was 19th, as Kevin Magnussen closed out the classification, 2.397s off the leading pace for Haas.

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