Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has set the fastest time in the first free practice session ahead of the 2016 Canadian grand prix.

The first free practice session got underway in sunny conditions and a balmy track temperature of 21 degrees celsius. As teams slowly began to find their way around the famous circuit Gilles Villeneuve the Williams of Felipe Massa made heavy contract with the barrier at turn one. The Williams, stricken and heavily damaged at the rear, brought out the red flag for several minutes.

Several drivers opted for a run on the purple side-walled ultrasoft tyre but it delivered inconclusive results at this early stage of the weekend. With half an hour remaining Lewis Hamilton had set the quickest time on the red supersoft tyre, a 1:14:980. Teammate Rosberg wasn’t far off at this stage in second place with a gap of 0.182.

Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto showed well in the Manor by running ahead of teammate Wehrlein, Renault’s Magnussen and Palmer and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson for the majority of the session. Haryanto eventually finished the session  18th overall.

At the end of the 90 minute session Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time overall with a 1:14:775 ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Final Free Practice 1 Standings