On Track

Practice report by Aramco: Canadian GP

Lance Stroll was the faster of the two Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team drivers during FP1, ending up seventh overall, while Sebastian Vettel finished fourth fastest in the afternoon's FP2 session.

Despite torrential rain on Thursday and a heavy downpour on Friday evening, both Free Practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix took place in dry conditions.

Sebastian

Sebastian kicked off FP1 running the Medium compound Pirelli tyre, setting an initial fastest lap of 1.16.710.

After completing 11 laps, he switched to the Soft tyre and improved his time to 1.16.041. He concluded the session on the used set of Medium tyres on which he had started the day, finishing ninth overall having completed 33 laps.

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Sebastian began FP2 on a fresh set of Soft tyres and ran a further set of Softs to record his fastest time of the session – a 1.14.442, which earned him fourth place in the classification.

Like most drivers, he spent the second half of the session focusing on longer runs on used tyres. He ran for 19 laps but was forced to make a precautionary pitstop when he felt something had become dislodged in the cockpit near his feet. He ended the day having completed 35 laps in the second session.

"This is a tricky circuit to get right, especially after a couple of years away. I lost the car a couple of times on the approach to Turn One – but, overall, it was pretty well behaved. Still, I think we need to be realistic about qualifying tomorrow; we're improving all the time but we still have some work to do.

"I think Saturday could be tricky – the conditions have been unpredictable all weekend and it looks likely to be another wet-dry day. But I'm looking forward to whatever the weather throws at us."

Lance

Lance also began FP1 on a set of Medium compound tyres, switching to Softs after seven laps. For that second run, his mechanics sprayed fluorescent flow-vis paint on the AMR22's bodywork in order to study the airflow across the rear wing. He set his best time of the session on that set of Softs – a 1.15.877 placed him seventh overall, with 32 laps on the board.

Lance began FP2 using a new set of Medium tyres to complete a six-lap run. After switching to softs, he clocked a 1.15.396 to record his fastest time of the session. Traffic at the end of FP2 meant he was unable to improve further, and he finished 12th overall, having completed 34 laps.

"It is great to return to Montreal – my home race. The energy from the Canadian fans is always very special and the grandstands were full today, which is great to see. I am pleased with the work we did, even though my final run in FP2 was impacted by traffic, which held us back a bit.

"Overall, though, we took some useful steps forward with the set-up and I think we have done some of our homework for the rest of the weekend. We just need to wait and see what happens with the weather now."