Russell leads in Canada, Leclerc crashes: F1 Practice Montreal

George Russell leads the second practice of the Canadian Grand Prix

George Russell, a Mercedes driver, set the pace in the second practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday. Max Verstappen, Formula 1 champion with Red Bull, had dominated the initial session at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was unable to participate in the second session after suffering an accident in the first, forcing mechanics to work hard to repair his single-seater. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who missed the previous race in Spain due to hand and wrist pain, also suffered an accident in the second practice at Turn 7 of his home Grand Prix, damaging the front left suspension. Russell’s time was 1:12.123, beating Verstappen’s time in the previous session, which was 1:13.193.

Last year, Russell and Verstappen qualified on the front row with identical times, with Russell in pole position, but Verstappen won the race for the third year in a row. They also had an incident in Spain two weeks ago, where Verstappen was on the verge of a penalty after colliding with the Mercedes. The Dutch driver only managed ninth place in the second practice on Friday, behind Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, with Lando Norris of McLaren being the closest to Russell, just 0.028 seconds behind.

The car is bouncing like crazy in the rear, the handling is terrible.

Max Verstappen

Mercedes’ good form was reinforced by Russell’s teammate, rookie Kimi Antonelli, who set the third-best time, 0.288 seconds behind the leader. McLaren, the championship leaders, had a slow start during the weekend until Norris’ lap, with Australian Oscar Piastri in seventh and sixth place, testing upgrades, including a new front wing. Piastri leads Norris by 10 points after nine of the 24 rounds of the season. Alex Albon, from Williams, was second and fourth in the sessions, but strangely missed his garage when entering the pits in the second and had to do another lap, with his teammate Carlos Sainz third and seventh. Fernando Alonso, from Aston Martin, finished the day in fifth place. Leclerc caused red flags when he crashed into the wall at the second chicane with 45 minutes remaining, causing significant damage to his Ferrari. Ferrari reported that the survival cell needed to be replaced.