Short break from rain and hail
Suddenly Hamilton dominates the F1 training in Canada
08.06.2024, 20:10
Formula 1 record world champion Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap in the last practice session before the Canadian Grand Prix. The British Mercedes driver finishes well ahead of world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. After rain and hail on Friday, the session is the first serious test in Montreal.
Record world champion Lewis Hamilton dominated the third free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix and set the fastest time by a wide margin. The Briton drove the fastest lap in a Mercedes with a time of 1:12.549 minutes and finished ahead of defending champion Max Verstappen (Netherlands), who was almost four tenths of a second slower than Hamilton in the Red Bull. His British teammate George Russell rounded off the strong result for Mercedes in third place.
The early evening session was the first of the weekend to take place under normal conditions on a dry track. Rain and hail had caused problems on Friday’s training session and little track time. The teams usually use the sessions to collect data. Fast laps and race simulations alternate so that the teams can find the ideal setup. This now had to be done quickly in the third training lap.
Leclerc in the Ferrari “really slow”
Mercedes presented itself surprisingly strongly, while things went worse for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) finished tenth, Carlos Sainz (Spain) only twelfth. “We’re really slow,” Monaco winner Leclerc radioed to the pits. The McLaren, which has also been very fast recently, finished fifth and seventh with Oscar Piastri (Australia) and Lando Norris (Great Britain).
Aston Martin with local hero Lance Stroll and veteran Fernando Alonso (Spain) also managed to keep up surprisingly well. Stroll finished fourth, Alonso finished eighth. Nico Hülkenberg from Emmerich finished 17th and was slower than his Danish Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen, who finished eleventh.
Qualifying in Montreal will take place in the evening (10 p.m. CEST), where rain is again expected. The ninth race of the Formula 1 season will take place on Sunday (8 p.m. CEST/both Sky).