Lewis Hamilton ended the first practice session in Canada on top and was one of many drivers to struggle with the tricky track conditions. Hamilton's fastest lap was a 1:13.809 on a surface that was dusty and didn't offer much grip.

Hamilton's championship rival Sebastian Vettel was P2, with a best time of 1:14.007. The Ferrari suffered from the effects of the poor track conditions early on as he spun out at turn 2, mirroring his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who spun minutes before further down the track. Raikkonen himself finished P4.

Splitting the two Ferrari's was Valtteri Bottas who will be hoping for a strong weekend at a track where he has claimed two podiums at. Force India will be pleased with their strong start to the weekend, with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon ending the session in fifth and sixth respectively. Ocon was also a victim of the spinners, planting his car in the wrong direction at the end of the session.

Red Bull are expecting Montreal to be a struggle, which was perhaps reflected on their finishing result in the first practice session. Max Verstappen managed the seventh fastest time while Daniel Ricciardo was ninth. Felipe Massa's Williams was in between to Red Bulls, while Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10.

Local boy Lance Stroll ended the day in P13, but didn't have the smoothest of sessions. The 18-year-old was on the radio to his engineer complaining about the balance of his car, something that will no doubt be looked into for the second practice session.

Engine trouble

It wasn't all plain sailing for a couple of drivers. Carlos Sainz missed out on effectively the whole session as his car suffered an engine failure before he could even set a lapped time. Only five minutes had gone in the session before the yellow flag was out for the stricken Toro Rosso.

It was a disaster return for Fernando Alonso, who was also forced to pull to the side of the track. The Spaniard is back from the Indy 500 and got his weekend off to the worst possible start, setting only 13 laps before something in his power unit gave up.

Fergal Walsh