Kimi Antonelli led Mercedes team mate George Russell and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in the only Free Practice session before the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday, taking the top spot after a chaotic hour at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The 18-year-old's best lap of 1m 13.402s came after three red flags interrupted a session that had barely settled into rhythm.
Antonelli arrived in Montreal with a 20-point lead over Russell in the title race, and he used the team's only serious dry run before Sprint Qualifying to underline that advantage. Russell had gone quickest on soft tyres with a lap of 1m 13.850s, but Antonelli found another margin of 0.448s and finished the session ahead of his team mate on a dirty track that was lacking grip.
The session began at 1230 local time with all 22 cars heading out for the sole practice hour at the 4.36-kilometre, two71-mile circuit. It was supposed to last one hour, but the first interruption forced officials to extend it by four minutes, and a later incident added another 15 minutes. Those adjustments still could not make the afternoon feel smooth.
Franco Colapinto was among the first drivers to report trouble, telling his team that his throttle was not working as Alpine dealt with an electrical issue early in the session. Around the 10-minute mark, Max Verstappen set the pace with a 1m 15.895s lap before a Virtual Safety Car slowed the field. Liam Lawson then stopped through Turn 5 with a mechanical issue, ending his session and bringing out the first red flag. Alex Albon later struck a groundhog at the exit of Turn 7, an incident that stopped the session again and brought a second lengthy delay.
Before that second stoppage, Russell had posted a 1m 15.760s lap and Antonelli had edged ahead with a 1m 15.414s effort. Oscar Piastri also entered the mix with a 1m 14.963s lap on the hard tyre. But the decisive runs came late, when Russell went fastest on soft tyres with 1m 13.850s and Antonelli replied with the session-best 1m 13.402s.
The result matters because this was the only practice session before Sprint Qualifying later on Friday, leaving the teams with little time to sort through the data. On a circuit where grip was hard to find and interruptions came one after another, Antonelli left with the cleanest headline. Russell still has the points chase in hand, but for one disrupted hour in Montreal, his team mate was the one in front.
