Upgraded motor does the trick for Red Bull Racing in FP1

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen led the way in the opening Canadian Grand Prix free practice, heading Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by just 0.088sec.

Monaco winner Daniel Ricciardo claimed third in the Red Bull, as Renault introduced it upgraded motor – believed to be worth an extra 20bhp. The Australian had been expected to be handed a grid penalty following his problems at Monaco, but will instead run parts previously used this season to avoid the grid drop.

Sebastian Vettel was the fastest of the Ferraris in fourth ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen finished the session a tenth further back in sixth.

Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne spent the early session near the top of the timesheets, eventually dropping down the order as the times began to lower. Alonso finished the session in seventh, with Vandoorne ninth.

Carlos Sainz of Renault split the two McLarens in eighth, with the Spaniard two-tenths slower than Alonso. His Renault team-mate Nico Hülkenberg slowed to a stop on the hour mark, unable to select a gear, and that brought out a red flag just as the two McLarens had jumped to the top of the timesheets.

Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso rounded out the top 10 ahead of Force India’s Sergio Pérez.

Romain Grosjean claimed 12^th ahead of the two Saubers, with Marcus Ericsson surviving a spin to pip Charles Leclerc by half a tenth.

The under-pressure Hartley, who would have lost his seat to Lando Norris had McLaren not blocked the move, set the 16^th-fastest time behind Kevin Magnussen.

Lance Stroll picked up a puncture with around 25 minutes remaining in the session when he hit the ‘wall of champions’, crawling back to the pits and out of the session down in 18^th place. His team-mate Sergey Sirotkin went one better in 17^th, 0.5sec faster than Stroll, but spun into the barrier in the closing stages at Turn 6.

Force India development driver Nicholas Latifi ended his debut session 19^th, 3.8sec adrift and last of those who set a time.

Canadian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 classification

1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1min13.302sec
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+0.088sec
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	+0.216sec
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+0.272sec
5	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	+0.315sec
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	+0.425sec
7	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	+0.598sec
8	Carlos Sainz Jr	Renault	+0.814sec
9	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	+1.009sec
10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	+1.702sec
11	Esteban Ocon	Force India	+1.769sec
12	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+1.817sec
13	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	+2.084sec
14	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	+2.137sec
15	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+2.277sec
16	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	2.454sec
17	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	+2.466sec
18	Lance Stroll	Williams	+2.957sec
19	Nicholas Latifi	Force India	+3.843sec
20	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	No time set

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