Hamilton, Rosberg fastest in practice for Canadian GP

Lewis Hamilton topped both practice sessions on Friday at the Canadian Grand Prix, heading team-mate Nico Rosberg in the opening session and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in the second. “I didn’t have the same pace I had yesterday, but it was obviously enough”.

Hamilton has won four times in Montreal and clearly relishes driving at the circuit where he claimed his maiden victory in 2007.

Max Verstappen showed his confidence has not been dented by crashing out in Monaco, just two weeks after his historic win in Barcelona, with the fourth fastest time ahead of Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Rosberg messed up his second run at the first corner so also failed to improve, while Vettel cursed losing some traction at the hairpin on his final flying lap.

Verstappen had an error-strewn weekend in Monaco but he may have been trying too hard to compensate for the fact that Ricciardo’s vehicle was fitted with an upgraded Renault engine.

Hamilton, who is bidding to become the first British driver to win four championships, courted criticism earlier this season after he posted a series of videos in which he was drinking tequila from a bottle and smoking a shisha pipe in a Miami nightclub.

Prices are likely to change after final practice, which starts at 3pm, United Kingdom and Ireland time.

“I thought we’d get them”, said Vettel of the two Mercedes cars.

“Montreal has always been a good track for me so, hopefully, I’m able to shine again like I did the first time I went there, in that great city atmosphere”, said the defending three-time world champion ahead of Sunday’s race.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso – his third consecutive top-ten start – completed the positions in the final session.

After an incident-filled first practice, the second was relatively quiet.

German Vettel has made it clear he wants Raikkonen to remain his Ferrari teammate in 2017, but he also said that reuniting with his former Red Bull colleague would be acceptable.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen took sixth from Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. The Brazilian lost control of his vehicle under braking before heading for the tyre barrier.

Asked if victory at the last race could nonetheless prove the springboard to a winning run into the summer, Hamilton cautioned: “Of course, I’d love that”.

Kvyat will take a three-place grid penalty for hitting Magnussen in Monaco as will Ericsson for his clash with team-mate Nasr at the same race.

On a cloudy and cool day, with an air temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, and rain forecast, qualifying began with the two Mercedes and both Ferraris leading the way out of the pits for Q1.