Formula 1 | Canada, EL2: Verstappen confirms ahead of the Ferraris

This first day of the Canadian Grand Prix was lively, as the FIA ​​followed up on its announcements the day before regarding guidelines to reduce porpoising. The federation acknowledged that figuring out what limits to apply to the 2022 F1 swing in just one evening would be complicated.

While we should have had a precise directive for FP3, qualifying and the race, this ultimately turns into work with the teams to find out how to apply future penalties, certainly from Silverstone, and what metric to choose to limit the rebounds.

Verstappen immediately took the lead in this session in 1’15″618, with medium tyres. Sergio Pérez positioned himself just behind him, however at seven tenths, and Esteban Ocon placed on the provisional podium on soft tires .

Charles Leclerc took second place at 0″057 from the best time, also with soft rubber, and Verstappen accelerated in 1’15″096. Launched in a fast stint in mediums, he crossed the bar of minute 15 shortly after, in 1’14″792.

Carlos Sainz complained of “porpoising and tailgating worse than in FP1”, and you could see with the naked eye that the Spaniard’s Ferrari was very uncomfortable. Valtteri Bottas took about 20 minutes to be able to take to the track, and his car had a problem during his exit lap, which prompted him to be called back to his pit urgently. The Finn had left for another reduced Friday…

Versappen then set a time of 1’14.127, continuing to dominate this first day. Sainz.

Sebastian Vettel also performed well, placing fourth and close to the top three. The McLaren drivers were finally back in the top 10 after halfway through the session, and the rest of these FP2s was calmer, with substantive work being done for the long stints.

It was the end of Bottas’ session, whose car was dismantled during the session. Pierre Gasly and Vettel will be summoned after the session, having both failed to respect the instructions of the race direction regarding the return to the track at the last chicane.

The rain was heading towards the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but the radars suggested that it was going to hit Île Notre-Dame hard after the checkered flag of these EL2s. Showers and thunderstorms are then expected tomorrow, while the race should take place in dry weather.

Lewis Hamilton, 13th, explained on the radio that the W13 was “undriveable”. The Mercedes F1 driver no longer had the test floor he had in FP1, and he seemed less comfortable behind the wheel of a decidedly wayward W13, which had nearly sent him spinning at the chicane of the second sector.

Verstappen therefore ends this day in the lead ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz, then Vettel and Fernando Alonso, who complete an astonishing top 5. Pierre Gasly is sixth ahead of Russell, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon.

Sergio Pérez is only 11th but seems to have done some substantive work fairly quickly, and he is ahead of Lance Stroll then Hamilton. Followed by Haas F1, Guanyu Zhou, Tsunoda, Williams and poor Bottas, who did not set a time during this session.