Hello and welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of the first free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix. What do we have in store from the seventh race of the season?

Well, one thing we appear to have in store is rain today. It's cloudy at the circuit with rain heading towards Montreal, while the forecasts are predicting a wet FP2. With the rest of the weekend expected to be dry, the teams will be keen to get out on track before any rain hits today

We've had a little bit of an ongoing story since the last race in Monaco, and that's been the debate over the Red Bull floor. An FIA clarification has forced the team to change its floor design, and while the team is unconcerned by having to do so, Mark Webber is especially angry at suggestions he won in Monte Carlo in an illegal car

I'm keeping an eye on the weather radar right now and there's definitely a bank of rain heading for Montreal. How much will hit the circuit, however, is anyone's guess

Romain Grosjean was one of the favourites heading in to Monaco and expects to be strong again this weekend. But personally I'm struggling to read in to his mood judging by this face:

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As always, we'd love to hear from you during this session. You can get in touch either by emailing us using the link above or via Twitter @ESPNF1

OK, I'm going to try my hand at being a weatherman. I predict a few spots of rain around 40 minutes in to the session. I think it's easier to predict the weather than a race winner so far this season...

Tommy emails in from Canada to say: "This Canadian thinks that Massa is going to finally shake the bad luck and unfortunate circumstance that has plagued him .... to come back and win the Championship this year! He is going to beat 6 other world champs this year!"

You're a brave man making that call Tommy. Make sure you have money on it if you're that sure!

@BSJ2008 on Twitter says: "Really looking forward to the Canadian Grand Prix, hoping for a great weekend for the Lotus F1 team"

Driver changes for this session: None. All the race drivers get a full weekend as they did in Monaco. Unless you're Kimi Raikkonen who missed all of FP1 with a steering complaint last time out

I'll keep my eyes peeled for obvious updates today, but we've already had confirmation that Ferrari is testing more new parts around its exhaust and Williams has a fairly radical rear wing - although all of the teams will be running a low downforce configuration this weekend

We're underway, Vergne heads out on track first

Flo-viz paint paint all over the Ferrari rear wing and brake ducts and Alonso and Glock have a little scrap as they head towards turn four

I saw a little scrap, there was a lot of position changing and close running, though not at top speed

That's going to be some clean-up job for Ferrari, so much paint all over both cars

Button is completing a second installation lap while everyone else has returned to the pits

Williams' Mark Gillan using a black light to analyse the new Williams rear wing

Red Bull running sensors on the left hand side of both cars. Vettel's is on the sidepod just in front of the exhaust exits, while Webber's is in front of the sidepod intake

There's rain directly north of the circuit, but it appears to be passing by. The dark clouds are visible over the city

Tom emails in to ask: "Isn't the word out that Mclaren and Mercedes teams are favoured as the track is to their favour?"

Mercedes especially so, as it has the double-DRS and good top speed. McLaren has also traditionally been strong here, and also has the Mercedes engine for top speed

Debbie emails in because it's the first time in 15 years she has not gone to the race: "I hope the students protesting leave the fans alone so everyone can enjoy the race. Kimi is my guy and it would be great to see him do it this weekend. I knew I would regret not going this year. Go KIMI!"

Daniele emails in: "I'd like to make a question … It's better to watch an unpredictable gp like this year or a gp like last year when Vettel was in pole with an easy race to win? … Honestly the answer for me it's easy … no?"

Laurence agrees with you Daniele, and so do I. We're loving this season so far.

For those asking what flo-viz paint is, it's aerodynamic paint that is highly visible (usually a fluorescent yellow or green) which shows the teams how the air is flowing over different parts of the car

Raikkonen appears to be the first driver to start a flying lap. He's on the soft tyres - as everyone has been so far - with the supersoft also available as in Monaco

We usually wouldn't see supersoft runs in this first session, but with rain forecast for later I wouldn't be surprised to see one or two teams run them

Apologies - it was Raikkonen who we were seeing, Grosjean was just behind him. Grosjean is currently fastest on a 1:20.295, just ahead of his team-mate on a 1:20.347

Butch from New Jersey emails in to ask: "Will we see a 7th different winner in as many races in 2012, and if so, who would you pick as the favorite to make their 1st trip to the top step of the podium in 2012?? I'm going to go with Raikkonen..."

Yes, I reckon we will see a seventh different winner Butch, and I'm going to tip Hamilton for victory. Laurence, however, believes Rosberg will become the first two-time winner of the season

Raikkonen down to a 1:18.703

Grosjean's third flying lap lowers his best time to a 1:17.988. The quickest time of FP1 last year was a 1:15.591 set by Nico Rosberg

And Grosjean improves again, now top on a 1:17.386

Vrijilesh asks: "Which driver(s) are we expecting in the Wall of Champions this time around? Any punts on that?"

I actually asked this very question on Twitter this morning, and the overwhelming early response was Maldonado. Massa seemed to be a popular choice too.

Patrick emails in to say: "Re: DRS zones - I thought they are only having one DRS zone. The straight to the chicane before the start finish line. You stated there are two zones."

Sorry, I haven't made myself clear - I was talking earlier about the Mercedes double-DRS system that gives it such good top speed. Patrick is correct that there is only one DRS zone this year after the zone on the start/finish straight was dropped

Raikkonen goes fastest on a 1:17.188

Senna runs wide at turn nine but continues across the grass without any issues

Rosberg on a quick lap and he goes fastest on a 1:16.837

A sign of McLaren's confidence perhaps, it is running a much bigger rear wing than most other teams. That increases drag (so a lower top speed) but gives it more downforce

Paul di Resta complains of signs of rain on his visor. There are a number of trees which overhang the circuit which could cause some moisture

Di Resta locks up in to the final chicane and has to cut it

Reports of spots of rain in the pit lane. Is it too soon to say I told you so?

Schumacher pushing hard in the Mercedes. The track is low on grip and quite dirty at present

Hamilton is flying despite that big rear wing, he's quickest in the first two sectors

And Hamilton goes quickest on a 1:16.080. That's only half a second off the 2011 best despite the lack of grip

Angelo asks: "What do you think of the tyre choices for this race? What pit strategies are probable?"

It's the right combination due to the nature of the circuit in my opinion, but I think we will see a lot of pit stops. Without any real data from this session yet I'll say we're going to get a three or four stop strategy that wins the race

Eric from Ottawa asks: "I'll be introducing my 6yo son to his first F1 weekend in Montreal tomorrow. The weather forecast is perfect. Only the student manifestations are a concern at this point. Have they been an issue at the track today?"

There have been no further reports of student trouble since the arrests made at last night's gala

Abhishek asks: "Are wet weather tyres provided every weekend apart from the normal allocations? By the way how many sets of tyres are allocated to each driver?"

Yes they are Abhishek, each driver is supplied with four sets of intermediate tyres and three sets of full wets each weekend

We're not seeing many moves at the top of the timesheets at the moment, but just so you know the gaps, Kobayashi is 0.377s behind Hamilton and Massa is third - 0.539s slower

Grosjean skips across the grass at turn nine

Webber goes seventh - a second off the pace - having caught Maldonado at the end of his lap

Siddhesh asks: "What determines the types of tyres for a particular track? And what are the tyres available for this weekend?"

Pirelli gets to choose the two compounds it will supply and bases that on track characteristic, with how rough the surface is being crucial. This weekend it's the soft and supersoft that is available as it was in Monaco

Vettel improves his best time to a 1:16.989 - seventh quickest for the reigning champion

We've just had a fox run across the track at turn five, where Mark Webber also had a bit of a moment on the slippery track

Webber's flying on this lap though with the fastest first sector

Rosberg sets the fastest final sector and goes second just 0.073s slower than Hamilton

Webber goes third on a 1:16.347

Perez now with the fastest first sector. He believes he can challenge for a podium this weekend

Senna goes straight on at turn four but manages to stop the car, reverse it and continue

Rosberg on a quick lap, matching Hamilton in the first two sectors

Rosberg doesn't improve though. He seemed a bit tentative through the final chicane

Vettel improves to fifth quickest, while Schumacher really attacks the final chicane and goes third on a 1:16.310

Senna told not to use DRS - it appears that it may have stayed open in to turn four

Button sets the fastest middle sector as he goes sixth quickest - just 0.267s slower than Hamilton with an identical time to Webber

Talking of Senna earlier - he's running the normal Williams rear wing while Maldonado has the new curved design

Glock and Pic are both yet to set representative times

Hamilton out on track and he's just set the fastest first sector

Kovalainen is the first man to hit the wall - it's the wall exiting turn nine though and has made a mess of his right hand side

He just lost the rear a tiny bit and clipped the wall, but then as he caught the car he was spat back in to the wall more heavily, ripping the right rear tyre off the rim

There's quite a lot debris strewn across the track so we're under a red flag while it is cleared

While we have this delay we can look at a few of the stats so far. Hamilton is comfortably quicker than anyone else in sector one, but it's Kobayashi who's show the greatest top speed at 325kph

Raikkonen had just gone out on supersofts when Kovalainen hit the wall

The onboard replay shows that Kovalainen only lost it a tiny bit, but the contact with the wall pitched the front in to the concrete and compressed the right-hand side of the car. He was still accelerating as it happened

We're still under red flags because the marshals are struggling to get the car back to the pits. In fact, once it had been picked up by a crane the rear dropped violently and actually hit the floor again - that won't please the Caterham mechanics

The session will restart at 11:02 local time, so in three minutes

Red Bull F1 Spy on Twitter: "Seb's making use of the break to get his Euro2012 fantasy football team sorted…"

The session is underway again and Alonso was already waiting at the end of the pit lane to head out on track

Kimi heads back out on the supersoft tyres. Grosjean does likewise

Lots of work going on at the back of Massa's car as Ferrari tweaks the exhaust layout. Mechanics swarming around the rear of the F2012

Grosjean is a second down in sector one despite using the supersoft tyres. Track temperature is only 22C so it could be that they aren't up to temperature yet, or it shows that the circuit is a bit slippery still

Karthikeyan locks up in to turn one on supersofts

Karthikeyan improves to a 1:20.258 but he was heavily blocked by a Toro Rosso in the final chicane

Vettel is currently second, just 0.063s slower than Hamilton

Looks like Button won't be heading out again in this session, his car is in bits and being worked on in the McLaren garage. No nose, engine cover or seat in there

Hamilton runs wide at turn one and cuts turn two

Rosberg is up through the first two sectors

And Rosberg goes quickest on a 1:15.782. but Hamilton is flying behind him...

Hamilton regains top spot with a 1:15.564 - quicker than the best time in FP1 last year. That's on soft tyres too

Vettel attacking the final chicane but has a slow Force India in front so keeps his foot buried as he cuts the corner

Funny little moment as Alonso takes turns three and four but runs a bit wide. Senna follows him and loses the rear a touch and then Vettel comes through but has to take to the grass. Each driver got wider and wider

Alonso with a major lockup in to the hairpin

Alonso with the quickest first sector of the session

Alonso goes third, 0.278s slower than Hamilton

The rear end is still off the back of Button's car so that hints at a gearbox issue

Vettel just 0.1s down through the first two sectors

Vettel stays fourth with a 1:16.010. He lost 0.4s to the best time in that final sector, so the Red Bull still appears to be struggling with its top speed a touch

This time a squirrel on the track and it was rather startled by Kobayashi's Sauber blasting past. It safely makes it over the wall, though

In passing the squirrel, Kobayashi has gone fourth quickest on a 1:14.000

It turns out that Button has an oil leak. Only 12 laps for him so far this session

Ricciardo now on supersoft tyres

The incident when Vettel cut the chicane - it turned out it was Senna he was passing and not a Force India - will be investigated after the session. Vettel could be in trouble for that one...

More wildlife out on track. Ricciardo is improving but still off the pace - he stays 17th

Hamilton locks up in to the final chicane and cuts it

De la Rosa has done an encouraging lap - albeit on supersofts - to go 2.6s off the best time

Rosberg starts a flying lap on supersoft tyres. His best is currently a 1:15.782 so we'll see what the improvement may be. The first lap might not be the best for performance though, and he's not at full speed on this lap

Webber and Vettel also out on supersofts, as is Schumacher

Theeban emails in to ask: "Just wanted to ask so its confirmed that Jenson would not take part for the rest of the session with an oil leak or the gear box issue?"

It's an oil leak that's the problem - I was only speculating when I said gearbox - but it will keep him in the garage for the rest of the session

Webber improves his best time to a 1:16.196 on supersofts

Vettel and Webber both going quicker once again, but Vettel's backed off to find some more space

Hulkenberg goes sixth on supersofts, but then Webber goes fourth just 0.333s slower than Hamilton

Rosberg appears to be on high fuel and isn't threatening to improve

Vettel improves to third place, now on a 1:15.801

Perez trying to warm up a set of soft tyres. Hamilton also not doing a supersoft run

Webber is pushing hard and is inches from the wall that Kovalainen hit as Vettel gets out of his way

Webber backs off and goes for one final lap. Vetetl does likewise behind him

Only Vettel looks like improving

A brief yellow flag at turn five as the chequered flag falls, not certain why but it's quickly clear again

Vettel quickest in sector two

Vettel goes second on a 1:15.682. He'd got a bit wide in the hairpin and then had some traffic which may have distracted him. He lost another 0.4s in the final sector as he did earlier

All of that means that Hamilton is quickest at the end of FP1 on a 1:15.564, 0.118s quicker than Vettel and 0.218s ahead of Rosberg. Alonso is fourth on a 1:15.842 and Webber fifth on a 1:15.897. Hulkenberg and Kobayashi are also within half a second

So a busy session unless you're Button - he completed just 12 laps while Raikkonen was busiest with 42. Kovalainen has also left his team with a lot of work to do after his crash, but will the rain come this afternoon to make life difficult for all the teams? Join us later to find out. Bye for now.