@ValtteriBottas tops shortened #FP1 session. #F1 #CanadianGP

Bottas Canadian GP FP1 – Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas topped a shortened Canadian GP FP1 session, which was red flagged due to a CCTV syncing issue at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen lead the field out at the beginning of proceedings and registered the first benchmark of a 1:20.154, in his RB19 racer, which was fitted with an aerodynamic load-measuring device.

The Dutchman was quickly demoted down the classification as the rest of the drivers that emerged when the track went green set their efforts, with Bottas time of a 1:18.728 the best of the limited group.

Free Practice 1 was then halted due to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly stopping on the long run between turn’s seven and eight due to a driveshaft problem.

Once his A523 racer was pushed behind the barriers, as the opening five minutes drew to a close, the session did not continue as expected.

Mercedes were certain that FP1 will resume very soon and sent Sir Lewis Hamilton and George Russell out to the end of the pit-lane, but when they were held there for several minutes, the Brackley based-outfit mechanics had to rush down and bring their F1 W14 entries back to their respective garages.

Mercedes stated: “Both cars headed to end of pit lane but then a problem in race control meant the circuit was not reopened while it is resolved. This issue was only communicated when cars reached end of pit lane. So we have brought the cars back as they would have lost any useful tyre temperature.”

At this point, nearly 20 minutes in, the FIA communicated that Free Practice 1 could not continue because the CCTV cameras around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were not working and so the pit-lane could not be re-opened and the session resumed.

The FIA’s statement read: “The session restart has been delayed due to issues with the local CCTV infrastructure around the circuit. The local organisers are working to resolve the issue and until that time we can’t restart for safety reasons.”

The clock continued to run down as per Formula 1’s rules and once it hit the 40th minute mark the FIA posted another statement:

“The delay will be longer as the CCTV is not synced correctly and until the issue has been fixed we cannot run on track. This system is a local installation and they are continuing to work to resolve the problem. The clock will continue to run down on FP1 and the session won’t be extended as there must be 2.5hrs between FP1 and FP2. We are looking at options to extend FP2.”

With 10 minutes left on the clock, it was announced that the session could not continue, whilst the stewards announced that Free Practice 2 will start half-an-hour earlier – at 4:30pm local time – and last 30 minutes longer.

When the teams went to start heating their tyres required in opening practice, the added strain on the electricity supply, which had to be adapted from 60hz to 50hz for the equipment the teams have designed based on European standards, meant the power supply had cut out.

All ten teams were forced to use generators to heat their tyres, but as the CCTV uses a different power system, the two problems in theory were unrelated to each other.

Behind Bottas in the order, was Aston Martin duo Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in second and third, then Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Verstappen completed the top five.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was sixth and in-front of Haas F1 Team pairing Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg who were seventh and eighth respectively as Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounded out the top ten.

The other Ferrari SF23 entry of Charles Leclerc and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries were the only other drivers to set a lap-time and the last of the drivers to reach a total of three tours.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant had to abort their effort’s due to the red flag caused by Gasly’s stoppage, with Alexander Albon also doing just a sighting lap.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon was not in his A523 racer when FP1 was first stopped due to his team-mate’s problem as the team investigated the issue, whilst the Mercedes pairing never made it out on circuit.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix Du Canada 2023 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1212/canada/practice-1.html

#F1 @Pirelli #CanadianGP 2023 Preview. #CanadianGrandPrix