Lewis Hamilton put on a stellar performance during the final free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix, outpacing championship leader Max Verstappen by an impressive 0.374 seconds.
The final practice session in Montreal saw its first completely dry track of the weekend, prompting drivers to make the most of the opportunity on medium tires. Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly were quick off the mark, setting early benchmarks before a brief halt in the session.
Zhou Guanyu brought out the second red flag of the weekend with a spin at Turn 2, finding himself backwards in the grass after losing control at the exit of the first corner. When the session resumed, Verstappen initially took the lead with a time of 1m15.495s, later improving to 1m14.983s. However, Fernando Alonso outpaced him on hard tires with a 1m14.870s, eventually clocking a 1m14.445s to end the medium tire runs.
The focus then shifted to the softer C5 tires. Logan Sargeant kicked off this segment with a 1m14.355s lap, but was quickly overtaken by George Russell. The times continued to tumble, with Alex Albon dipping below the 74-second mark and Charles Leclerc briefly taking the lead before Hamilton made his move.
Hamilton’s impressive 1m12.549s lap time secured him the top spot for a significant portion of the session. Teammate George Russell briefly edged ahead, but Hamilton reclaimed first place, finishing 0.725 seconds clear of Russell’s best effort. Few drivers managed to come close to Hamilton’s pace until the final minutes, when Verstappen, who brushed the wall at Turn 14, posted a 1m12.923s lap, still 0.374 seconds adrift.
Lance Stroll secured fourth place, just under half a second behind Hamilton, followed by Oscar Piastri in fifth and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth. Rounding out the top ten were Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, and Charles Leclerc, the latter remarking that his Ferrari felt ‘slow’ in the opening corners and noting a 0.3-second loss in a specific complex.
In the run-up to qualifying, Hamilton’s strong performance in the final practice session sets an exciting stage for the rest of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. With challengers like Verstappen and Russell close on his heels, the battle for pole position is sure to be fierce.
Source: Motorsport
