Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were third and fifth fastest respectively in the only real Friday free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix. The first session lasted little more than four minutes before it was stopped as the circuit’s CCTV cameras were not functioning properly. The second session was extended to 90 minutes for teams and drivers to make up for lost time.
77 laps. Both drivers started off on the same sets of Medium tyres that they had used for just three laps in the first session. With these Carlos posted a 1’15”473 and Charles did a 1’15”523. The two SF-23s were then fitted with Softs, Leclerc lapping in 1’14”094 and Sainz in 1’14”196. The session was red flagged when Nico Hulkenberg stopped on track, after which the Ferrari duo went out on new Softs with Carlos getting down to 1’13”844, while Charles was on a quick lap when Esteban Ocon prompted another red flag. The threat of rain was increasing at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit as the session resumed and both Ferraris went out with a heavier fuel load to run in race configuration on both Medium and Hard compound tyres. The rain finally hit the track right at the end of the sessions so that the last few laps were run on Intermediate tyres. Carlos did 39 laps and Charles 38.