Max Verstappen had the latest in a series of sub-optimal Friday practices, completing just 14 laps on track in total at Montreal's Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve due to a combination of weather and electrical issues.
First practice got off to a delayed start because of a hailstorm shortly before the start of the session which forced an evacuation of parts of the circuit. There was further disruption due to Zhou Guanyu crashing in the Sauber.
Verstappen ended the unrepresentative session in fifth place two seconds off Lando Norris, and was hoping to make up for lost time by making an early start in the second hour-long FP2
But as soon as he headed on on slick tyres the rain picked up again. After a change to inters, Verstappen tried again but this time a technical issue on the Red Bull forced him back to pit lane once more.
"Box on the marks and switch off, Fail 55, Fail 55," was the urgent radio message from his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, to which Verstappen responded: "Can we get the fans? I smell a bit of smoke."
There was a flurry of activity by the Red Bull mechanics once Verstappen arrived, with everyone taking appropriate precautions for high electricity suggesting that the problem was with the Energy Recovery System (ERS).
That would be a particular concern for Verstappen who was handed a fresh ICE, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K and exhaust for the weekend, all within his allocation for the season.
"Unfortunately we didn’t get to drive much," Verstappen told the media in the paddock. "FP1 was very affected by the weather and we also did not get many laps out of FP2.
"The team asked me to come in because of electrical problems which they are currently investigating," he continued. "I’m sure we will get to the bottom of it.
"I would have liked to have driven more but the most important thing is to find out what is going on with the car, and what consequences this has for this weekend and the rest of the year."
His team mate Sergio Perez - who was just confirmed as staying with Red Bull until at least the end of 2026 - also didn't have the greatest of starts to the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.
He was ninth fastest in the curtailed FP1, and then tenth quickest in the later session. However a total of 29 laps during the disrupted day was rather better than Verstappen managed.
"It was a very tricky day with the conditions that we had," he said. "It's going to be very important in qualifying tomorrow to be out there at the right time.
"We could already see in FP2 that the conditions and track were changing quite a bit if you were not pushing on the right lap, it could be quite a big difference.
"We felt a few things in the car that we want to adjust, we have a good idea where we need to make changes, but I think it is very difficult to draw any conclusions on a track that was dictated by the weather today.
"We made some good progress on the inters," he added. "That was quite positive. But on the slick we were just not out at the right time, so I am not concerned about it. We will get to see the competitiveness tomorrow."
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