The first practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix was effectively abandoned after four minutes due to a circuit CCTV failure.
An early red flag which was shown after Pierre Gasly stopped on the circuit was never rescinded as a CCTV problem on the circuit meant the FIA were unable to resume the session due to safety reasons. Valtteri Bottas was quickest of the 12 drivers who set a single lap time during the opening minutes of the session.
With the two Red Bulls sitting atop the championship, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both waited at the end of the pit lane before the first hour of practice began. When it did, both headed out on soft tyres to set their first laps of the race weekend, joined on soft tyres by the two Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, while the 13 others who also took to the circuit chose mediums.
Gasly headed out in his Alpine for his first lap, but reported a drive problem with his car heading through turn five. With his rear wheels not responding to the input of his right foot on the throttle, Gasly stopped on the side of the track as his team attempted to provide him solutions over the radio. After attempting to restart his car by removing and replacing the steering wheel, Gasly was told to switch off his car and the red flag was flown, stopping the session.
Marshals began work to clear away the Alpine as the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton exited the garage to the end of the pit lane to await the restart of the session. However, there was an unexpected delay to the session being resumed due to a technical problem with the circuit’s CCTV system, meaning race control were unable to start the session with the required level of safety guaranteed.
The two Mercedes were wheeled back into the garage while circuit staff worked on fixing the CCTV problem. However, what was expected to be a relatively brief delay continued to drag on until there was less than half an hour of run time remaining. The FIA reiterated that work was continuing to fix the circuit infrastructure, but that efforts to resync the CCTV system had been unsuccessful.
As the minutes ticked by, Hamilton attempted to entertain the patient Canadian fans by stepping over the pit wall and onto the track to wave to the crowd, before it was then announced that the session would not be resumed due to the fault. The FIA confirmed that second practice will begin 30 minutes earlier than originally scheduled and extended by the same amount to make back some of the time lost.
Of those drivers who did set a time in the opening four minutes of the session, Bottas was quickest for Alfa Romeo with a 1’18.728, ahead of the two Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso and the two Red Bulls of Perez and Verstappen. Only 12 drivers completed timed laps in the session, although none of which were at representative speeds.
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2023 Canadian Grand Prix first practice result
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