F1: Technical issue wipes out most of Practice 1 in Montreal

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Two-thirds of the F1  drivers got 3 slow laps in before a technical issue stopped all running in Practice 1 for the Montreal GP.

The running was then stopped after Alpine’s Pierre Gasly came to a halt between Turns 7 and 8 due to a driveshaft issue.

Once the car was cleared the track did not go green as expected.

The official word was: The delay will be longer as the CCTV for the track cameras  is not synced correctly and until the issue has been fixed we cannot run on track. The clock will continue to run down in FP1.

It never got fixed in time before time ran out in the session.

30 minutes has been added onto the beginning of Practice 2, now slated for 4:30pm ET.

Valtteri Bottas was fastest for Alfa Romeo at 1m18.728s ahead of Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen (his RB19 that was fitted with an aerodynamic load-measuring device.)

Mercedes didn’t get their cars out at all.

Aston Martin have changed the design of their sidepods, which are more sculpted on the top than they were in Spain, with a deeper groove. The rear wing also looks flatter, and the combination of both has a few other teams worried.

The Red Bull drivers both referenced Aston Martin’s upgrades yesterday, and Mercedes know they might have a fight on their hands this weekend for a podium.

Practice 1 Results