Carlos Sainz in the Williams briefly went fastest after his latest push lap on the softs, but here comes Max Verstappen again. The Dutchman, winner from second on the Canadian grid last year, goes above the Spaniard with a 1:13.193 on the new C6 compound.

George Russell was in Paris during the week off to watch that epic men's French Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros. He even clocked Max Verstappen on daddy duties with his daugter Lilly at the airport. They had a chat and there were no hard feelings about the incident in Barcelona.

The Mercedes man was on pole in Montreal last year - he eventually came third in the race - and now he's back on top in practice this year with a time 0.328 seconds quicker than Verstappen on the same soft tyre.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion

It is a tough one because Isack Hadjar's form in the Racing Bulls, why would he want to change seats? He's able to be in the top 10 last three races, in the triple header. You want to race for the front-running team, up against Max Verstappen, but it doesn't seem to be quite as appealing as it did a few years ago.

Would we call this the walk of shame in F1 ? With his race helmet on top of his head, Charles Leclerc makes his way back to the Ferrari garage to dissect what happened.

Image source, Reuters

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion

It's not looking too nice there, especially Turn Six. It just seems to not be cleared. Everyone out there seems to be struggling quite a bit.

The Formula 1 lawnmowers are out in force, with Mercedes' George Russell the latest driver to end up wide across the lush Canadian grass.

Once again, a brief yellow flag is waved. It's Lewis Hamilton this time, who locks the rear of his Ferrari at Turn 10 and suffers a slow spin over the tarmac.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen is on the red-banded soft tyre and he goes top with a 1:13.863.

Image source, Reuters

Rain can strike at any moment in Montreal, so be prepared for a potential sneaky shower during the course of this three-day race weekend.

Friday's practice will be the coolest day with lots of cloud around. However, it will be dry for the two hours of running on track today, with just a 20% chance of rain.

One Ferrari remains then and it's Lewis Hamilton, who has won the Canadian Grand Prix seven times.

While we waited for the track to clear, there was an incident of impeding involving the Williams of Alex Albon and Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto. Looks like Albon was unaware the Brazilian was on a quick lap.

Image source, Getty Images

Off we go again, minus Charles Leclerc.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion

It is tight, on the track walk, these are the things you notice. It feels a little bit clumsy, Leclerc mentions on the radio that he had the opportunity to bail out but he didn't. It made his day done for the session.

Bad start for Ferraripublished at 18:53 British Summer Time 13 June

18:53 BST 13 June

It's been a week of headlines for Ferrari, so this isn't the ideal start for the Italian team. The local press has reported boss Fred Vasseur's job is under pressure, but Lewis Hamilton is backing the Frenchman to succeed at the Scuderia and take them back to the top.

Charles Leclerc himself has been subject to the F1 rumour mill, with some suggesting he is questioning whether Ferrari can deliver him a world championship. However, he quickly brushed off the speculation on Thursday, saying he's a happy bunny and not going anywhere.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion

We've seen [the McLaren car] has been a strong suit for Oscar, he's enjoyed driving the car whereas Lando, it is different to what he has been used to. He has had to make the adaptions to his driving and the front end is what he wanted a lot more of.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Montreal

Image source, Reuters

McLaren have brought some upgrades for this race, particularly a new front wing and front suspension. The front wing is a test item which is not expected to be used beyond Friday. But the front suspension is aimed at resolving some of the issues McLaren have had with the front-end behaviour of the car - a numbness in the front axle, as team boss Andrea Stella has put it - that has particularly affected Lando Norris this season. The suspension is available to both drivers to try before making a decision on whether to continue with it.

Postpublished at 18:48 British Summer Time 13 June

18:48 BST 13 June

Charles Leclerc is actually top of the times with a 1:13.885 on the soft C6 compound. He won't be taking any further part in first practice, though, as that Ferrari is a mangled heap, waiting to be rescued around Turn Four.

Leclerc hits the wallpublished at 18:47 British Summer Time 13 June

18:47 BST 13 June

The red flag is out as Charles Leclerc safely exits the car. The Monegasque driver took too much speed and locked up, smacking his left front tyre into the wall. The car looks a mess.

Leclerc offpublished at 18:45 British Summer Time 13 June

18:45 BST 13 June

Charles Leclerc is into the barriers at Turn Four. That's a big shunt for the Ferrari driver.

The two Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson have bolted on the medium tyres for the opening minutes of this first practice session. Lando Norris, meanwhile, highlights rear locking causing him problems to his McLaren pit wall.

Over at Sauber, Gabriel Bortoleto runs wide at Turn 14 on the dusty surface. It's proving a tricky test for drivers so far.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion

The drivers are struggling quite a bit. The track is really, really green. There is a lot of dust being thrown up and you can see the lines where the dust is being displaced.

Kimi Antonelli, another newbie to the Montreal circuit, is a soft runner on the C6 rubber. But the Italian suffers an early lock-up and is on the radio straight away to flag to his pit wall.

Lando Norris also twitches in his McLaren on his soft run. The Briton is fifth on the timesheets despite two purple sectors.