2024 Canadian Grand Prix: Norris Fastest in Wet First Practice

Lando Norris finished on top of the timesheets during a disrupted first practice sessions that only saw dry running in the last few minutes.

The session started as planned at 15:30 local time, but the pitlane was closed, meaning there was no chance of any action on track around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve until the light went green. The pitman finally opened with 35 minutes left of the session – Lewis Hamilton was the first of the twenty drivers to get on track. Guanyu Zhou stopped on track in sector two, bringing out the red flag after just 11 minutes of running. The Chinese driver span going into turn 5, hitting the left hand side of the car, damaging the rear in particular. 

Following the second delay, the cars got back onto the circuit with 23 minutes to go. The track started to ramp up as the conditions got better and the grip improved. With 15 minutes to go, Carlos Sainz Jr. led Charles Leclerc with the two Visa Cash App RB drivers third and fourth – Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.

Sergio Pérez put his RB20 up into third before Valtteri Bottas went quicker, but with the track drying most of the drivers went back to the pits to avoid damaging their one practice set of intermediate tyres.

With six minutes to go, Leclerc took the track on the soft compound tyre – the first to go out on a dry compound. Most drivers followed Leclerc, with the times improving slightly but too much due to some drivers not wanting to push the limits and risk a collision with the barriers on a drying and newly resurfaced track.

Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Norris ended the session on top with a 1:24.435, with Sainz +0.328s behind. Leclerc rounded out the top three, +0.871s back from session topper Norris. 

Hamilton ended in fourth, a further seven tenths back from Leclerc, ahead of Max Verstappen in fifth. Oscar Piastri was +2.319s back from his teammate, finishing sixth, while Pierre Gasly popped up in seventh with his final lap of the session.

Bottas’ best time on the intermediate tyres was good enough to keep him in eighth, as was Perez’s in ninth. George Russell claimed the last spot in the top ten.

Ricciardo ended up in eleventh, ahead of his teammate Tsunoda in twelfth – the Japanese driver is looking for another points finish after finishing in the top ten in three consecutive races for the first time in his Formula 1 career.

Thirteenth and fourteenth were the two MoneyGram Haas F1 Team cars. Kevin Magnussen on intermediates was ahead of his teammate Nico Hülkenberg on the soft compound of tyre. Fernando Alonso, Logan Sargeant and home hero Lance Stroll rounded out the drivers who completed a timed lap. 

Zhou played no further part in the session after his smash into the barrier at Turn 5, while BWT Alpine F1 Team junior, Jack Doohan, only did a single lap during his first Free Practice One session of the year. Alex Albon was the only other driver to not set a timed lap.