And good luck finding the smallest hierarchy after the first day of driving in Montreal! Like the first session, the second free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix was interrupted by rain. With a few drops at the start of the session, then heavier rain from the middle of the session before the track dried out in the very last minutes of the ride. In this game, Fernando Alonso set the best time of 1’15”810 in his Aston Martin in the first thirty minutes ahead of George Russell (Mercedes, +0”463) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin, +0”654).

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) drove for the fourth time on medium tires (+0”746), but the Monegasque experienced an adventure against his will, since at the beginning of the session he was on a set of intermediate tires while he was driving The race team had not yet decided that the track was wet, which is not permitted. The winner of the last GP in Monaco is therefore summoned with his team to explain themselves to the commissioners.

Hybrid problem for Verstappen

But the bad news of the day concerns Max Verstappen. The Dutchman, 18th (+3”501), broke free from his cockpit just before the middle of the session and told his team that he smelled smoke. What followed was a lot of work by mechanics wearing the obligatory protective gloves in case of a problem with the hybrid system, raising fears that Verstappen will have to change it again this weekend. Again, because this system had just been installed on the number 1 single-seater.

In his first session of the weekend, Esteban Ocon took 11th place on his Alpine (+1”607) as he was replaced in the EL1 by Jack Doohan, who rode very little. Pierre Gasly is only 18th (+4”979), but again it is impossible to draw even the slightest lesson from the performances as the conditions varied over an hour. A situation that could repeat itself on Saturday during the third free practice session.