• Canadian Grand Prix - FP1

Di Resta tops wet/dry FP1 in Montreal

Paul di Resta was 0.088s quicker than Jenson Button in FP1 © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Canadian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Paul di Resta
• |
• Romain Grosjean

• Teams:
• Lotus F1
• |
• McLaren
• |
• Racing Point

Paul di Resta set the pace during FP1 for the Canadian Grand Prix as a drying track saw a late dash for times on slick tyres.

Times tumbled in the final few minutes of the session as the track only became dry enough for slick tyres with ten minutes to go. Jenson Button seemed to have set the pace as Pastor Maldonado hit the wall at Turn 4 to bring out the yellow flags, but di Resta was the first man to complete his final flying lap and his time of 1:21.020 went unbeaten despite admitting he had been "very cautious" through the first sector.

Button came closest with his final attempt as he did a 1:21.109, while Romain Grosjean went third quickest on a 1:21.258. Fernando Alonso was fourth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo. During the intermediate tyre runs it had been Mercedes who looked the class of the field as their drivers topped the timesheets, but Nico Rosberg ended up seventh and Lewis Hamilton down in 16th.

It was a wet start to the session after heavy morning rain, but after a few laps the circuit was ready for intermediate tyres and saw the session getting much busier as teams will receive an extra set of intermediate tyres for having to use them in FP1.

Jules Bianchi caused a yellow flag for a few minutes after running down the escape road at Turn 3. Bianchi attempted to spin the car round but having struggled to do it quickly he was informed by his Marussia team to switch the car off as the temperatures had got too hot.

Hamilton had a worrying moment when he came across Mark Webber and one of the Ferrari's at speed at the end of a lap. Both cars ahead were slow as they prepared to pit, and with the two cars side-by-side Hamilton was forced to jink to the right, locking up and sliding across the grass and the final chicane before continuing without obvious damage.

The final flurry of times came when enough of a dry line appeared for slicks to be used, but conditions remained tricky off-line and Maldonado dropped his Williams at Turn 3, hitting the wall at Turn 4 head-on to wipe the front end off his car.

Chris Medland is assistant editor at ESPNF1

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