2026 Canadian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 F1 results (Montreal)

Kimi Antonelli led a Mercedes 1-2 finish in practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton taking third place for Ferrari.

The upgraded Mercedes proved untouchable in practice, as Kimi Antonelli came out on top against George Russell during the extended session that was interrupted by an unusual crash for Alex Albon.

Charles Leclerc tops Miami GP FP1 ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri

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Mercedes has claimed a 1-2 finish in the one and only practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix, with Kimi Antonelli coming out on top of the intra-Mercedes duel against George Russell.

The cars took to the track immediately as the lights turned green to kick off the sole practice session ahead of the Sprint weekend action, with copious amounts of dust kicked up as the drivers started the task of cleaning up the circuit.

Early errors from the two McLaren drivers at the final chicane saw both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri taking to the escape area after getting twitchy under braking, while Max Verstappen put two wheels on the grass, accelerating onto the straight in the second sector, but kept the car pointing in the right direction.

With less than 10 minutes elapsed, the session was red-flagged as Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls broke down at Turn 4; the Kiwi had reported a loss of power steering, as replays showed him grinding to a halt with a distinctly ill-sounding car.

Also struggling was Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, with the Argentine driver slowing going down the back straight and crawling into the pits to have his team pore over the car; Alpine later confirmed a power unit-related issue.

The session resumed a few minutes later, with the FIA confirming the session would be extended by four minutes to compensate for the loss of time.

The early pace was set by the two Red Bulls, with Verstappen setting a 1:15.895 on the hard tyre, almost four-tenths clear of Isack Hadjar.

At the 25-minute mark, championship leader Kimi Antonelli slotted into second with a time a tenth off Verstappen’s, before George Russell went quickest in the other Mercedes as he clocked a 1:15.893.

With the track conditions improving, Piastri then went quickest with a 1:15.806, before Russell lowered the benchmark again with a 1:15.760.

The newly-upgraded Mercedes started to stretch its legs up front, with Russell setting a 1:15.4, before Piastri did a 1:14.963 just before the 30-minute mark to go almost half a second clear of Russell and Antonelli.

Shortly after this brief red flag, a more lengthy red flag period was triggered at the half-hour mark when Alex Albon ended up against the wall in the second sector.

Exiting Turn 6, the Williams driver was shown with significant damage to his car as he slid across the track, although immediate replays showing the incident weren’t shown despite the driver being clearly uninjured.

The reason for this quickly became clear, with Albon having lost control of his car after a collision with a groundhog, a large ground squirrel that teems across the Île-Notre-Dame island upon which the circuit is situated.

With the marmot’s end captured on video, the world feed didn’t show the incident for obvious reasons, although images quickly spread across social media to show that Albon had been powerless against hitting the mammal.

With Albon out of the car and back in the garage as his trainer cleaned his helmet, the FIA added another 15 minutes due to the interruption.

Mercedes established a 1-2 up front with Russell ahead of Antonelli on a 1:14.560, faster by a tenth, with Piastri in third on his 1:14.9, before Antonelli took over at the front again with a 1:14.392, just before he needed to take to the escape area at Turn 1 as he locked up into the corner.

Also going off was Verstappen, who went over the grass at Turn 7 as he reported struggling with the downshifts on his Red Bull, slipping down the order to eighth place in the standings.

With just over 15 minutes to go, Russell was the first of the frontrunners to swap to the soft tyre, and he promptly set a 1:13.850 to go quickest by half a second, before Antonelli embarked on his flying lap on the soft.

Antonelli banged in a lap almost half a second clear, going three-tenths of a second quicker in the final sector in itself, as he did a 1:13.402.

Piastri, attempting to respond, had set the fastest second sector of anyone, but took to the escape area at the final chicane and threw his lap away after a serious lock-up under braking, with his engineer telling him to manually disengage straight-line mode as the lock-up happened before downforce had fully reattached.

Norris also had a lock-up at the hairpin, while Antonelli did the same at the hairpin with eight minutes to go, while Russell closed down the gap to a tenth-and-a-half with another flying lap.

Moments later, Russell spun off negotiating Turn 2, tapping the barriers as he came to rest facing the wrong way back into the pitlane, but was fortunate to escape damage as he recovered to the track.

With five minutes to go, Esteban Ocon spun his Haas at Turn 4, tapping the wall with his front wing cone and ripping it off, but he gathered it up and brought the car back to the pits without any apparent further damage, although the red flag was shown to cover the clean-up of debris.

With time elapsed upon resumption, there were no further changes in the order, with Antonelli remaining in front of Russell as the two Mercedes proved untouchable on single-lap pace.

FULL REPORT: Canadian Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli fastest as FIA twice extends red flag-hit FP1

2026 Canadian Grand Prix, Free Practice 1 Results

1. 1. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes 1:13.402
2. 2. George Russell, Mercedes +0.142
3. 3. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari +0.774
4. 4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +0.953
5. 5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull +0.964
6. 6. Lando Norris, McLaren +1.397
7. 7. Oscar Piastri, McLaren +1.561
8. 8. Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls +2.050
9. 9. Nico Hulkenberg, Audi +2.296
10. 10. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +2.461
11. 11. Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +2.812
12. 12. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls  +2.851
13. 13. Esteban Ocon, Haas +3.095
14. 14. Alex Albon, Williams +3.240
15. 15. Carlos Sainz, Williams +3.258
16. 16. Pierre Gasly, Alpine +3.407
17. 17. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +3.576
18. 18. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +4.029
19. 19. Oliver Bearman, Haas +4.368
20. 20. Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac +4.466
21. 21. Sergio Perez, Cadillac +4.524
22. 22. Franco Colapinto, Alpine No time

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