2016 F1 Round 7 Canadian Grand Prix FP1 – Hamilton leads, Massa crashes

FP1 for the Canadian Grand Prix took place in Montreal on June 10, with Hamilton fastest on a 1:14.755. Rosberg was second, 0.331 seconds behind, while Vettel took third with a gap of 0.488 seconds.

Archive photograph from the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix press conference in São Paulo.

Verstappen was fourth, 0.798 seconds off the pace, followed by Räikkönen in fifth and Bottas in sixth. Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams all had drivers in the leading six.

Verstappen was the highest-placed Red Bull driver, with Ricciardo eleventh. Toro Rosso’s Sainz was eighth and Kvyat fifteenth. The top ten also included Hülkenberg in seventh, Pérez ninth and Alonso tenth.

Hamilton set the fastest lap on red-marked supersoft tyres, while Rosberg recorded his best on purple-marked ultrasofts. Hamilton was still 0.331 seconds faster despite Rosberg using the compound that was nominally quicker at the time.

Massa hit the barriers at Turn 1 about 25 minutes into the session. The team later attributed the crash to a DRS problem. Massa was unhurt, but the rear of his car was badly damaged.

The red-flag stoppage caused by Massa’s crash lasted twelve minutes. Before the interruption, Räikkönen had been fastest, followed by Verstappen and Vettel. After the restart, Rosberg briefly went to the top with a 1:15.746, and both Hamilton and Rosberg continued to improve their times.

Button spent much of the session in the pits with a suspected temperature problem. He completed only eight laps and returned slowly to the pits on his final lap. Alonso ended the session tenth, while Button was twelfth.

The final corner repeatedly caught drivers out during the session, with Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Alonso and Bottas among those who went off the track. Afterwards, Verstappen was summoned to the stewards over alleged impeding of Bottas.