Hamilton tops first Canadian practice despite spin

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of FP1 for the Canadian Grand Prix despite spinning during the opening session.

A number of drivers struggled with low grip levels during first practice, with the soft tyre proving difficult to warm up in relatively cool conditions. Hamilton topped the times throughout the session but lost the rear of his Mercedes at low speed, spinning at the hairpin and being left facing the wrong way in the middle of the circuit.

Hamilton recovered the car and eventually lowered his best lap down to a 1:16.212, leaving him 0.415s clear of team-mate Nico Rosberg. On a track where the power unit has a major influence, Mercedes was dominant and Hamilton was 1.5s clear of third-placed Romain Grosjean.

The top four were all Mercedes-powered cars with Nico Hulkenberg just 0.15s slower than Grosjean in the Force India. Sebastian Vettel was fifth for Ferrari - 1.7s adrift of Hamilton's best - but limited his running during the early part of the session with Ferrari trying to manage its power unit mileage as it introduces an update this weekend.

Felipe Massa was sixth for Williams ahead of Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull. While Renault is expecting to struggle, it had both Kvyat and Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso in the top ten, while Honda will be similarly encouraged to see Fernando Alonso end the opening session in ninth place.

Valtteri Bottas was 11th but another driver to have a spin during FP1, with the Finn losing control at Turn 6 and completing a full 360-spin in a cloud of tyre smoke before continuing. Carlos Sainz followed suit in the Toro Rosso moments later, spinning after carrying too much speed in to Turn 1.

With one McLaren finishing the session in the top ten, Jenson Button was down in 15th place after more reliability concerns. Button completed just two laps in the opening half an hour of the session - when teams get a free set of tyres which must be returned after 30 minutes - but recovered later on to complete 25 laps in total.

Click here for technical analysis of the braking challenge at the Canadian Grand Prix

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