Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix 2015: Results, Times for Practice and Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton will be desperate to banish memories of Mercedes’ faux pas in Monaco when he heads to one of his favourite races of the season, the Canadian Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion has won on three occasions in Montreal and will fancy his chances of extending his 10-point lead from team-mate Nico Rosberg at the top of the driver standings with a strong performance this weekend.

Practice and qualifying aren’t quite as crucial at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve when compared to a lot of dates on the Formula 1 calendar, but after some baffling team tactics cost Hamilton victory in Monte Carlo, taking pole ahead of Sunday's climax will certainly help the Briton's chances.

Team-mate Nico Rosberg finished a close second on Saturday to turn up the grid heat on Hamilton and you can recap all the qualifying and practice action ahead.

Qualifying

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Mercedes dominated the field in Saturday's qualifying session as Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix, while team-mate Nico Rosberg finished a close second.

Kimi Raikkonen displayed some superb skill to keep within touching distance of the Mercedes pair, but the Ferrari driver still finished a distant third, confirmed by the official Formula 1 Twitter account:

"

BREAKING: PROVISIONAL GRID (FRONT) 1 HAM 2 ROS 3 RAI 4 BOT 5 GRO 6 MAL 7 HUL 8 KVY 9 RIC 10 PER #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/D6oBPGQfXe

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2015"

It's the first time Hamilton has poled in Montreal since 2010 and gives the 2015 leader a superb chance of extending his cushion at the head of the overall standings.

With Jenson Button not taking part in qualifying due to engine issues, Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa joined the Briton in the bottom five after failing to make the cut in Q1:

"

BREAKING Sebastian Vettel & Felipe Massa fail to make it out of Q1 #CanadianGP #Quali pic.twitter.com/DYRGxodsbJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2015"

In Massa's defence, the Brazilian was heard over the team radio complaining of power issues, but Vettel's failure to make 15th had no excuses with it.

Fernando Alonso just squeezed into the second qualifying session at his expense, but the journey was cut short for him after Q2, per Honda's official Twitter account:

"

That's #Q2 complete, and with Max Verstappen's penalty @alo_oficial will start P13 for tomorrow's #CanadianGP. pic.twitter.com/bojh9Iotye

— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) June 6, 2015"

Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen was faced with a 15-place penalty this past week—an initial five places in relation to his crash with Romain Grosjean in Monaco, with a further 10 places added for changing his engine in Montreal.

Hamilton and Rosberg always looked the culprits to beat as qualifying raged on and despite Raikkonen's best efforts, the Finn was unable to break up their hold ahead of what could be another bright Sunday for Mercedes.

FP3: Hamilton Slowest While Team-Mate Rosberg Leads the Charge

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Mercedes endured a mixed final practice session at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday, where Lewis Hamilton finished as the slowest of any driver while team-mate Nico Rosberg topped the speed charts.

Two red flags in Montreal made for another severely disrupted session after Sauber's Felipe Nasr crashed testing his tyres before Jenson Button brought about the second stoppage later on.

As shown by the official Formula 1 Twitter account, this prevented any participating teams from clocking up the desired data in Canada, Carlos Sainz of Renault finishing with the most laps of any driver (25):

"

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF #FP3) #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/8gPD8lqDWt

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2015"

Despite the misfortune of Saturday's final practice session, it does add even more excitement heading into qualifying, with even the underdogs feeling that now may be their chance to upset the order.

Mercedes will undoubtedly have been pleased with Rosberg's quick progress, but the manufacturer's official Twitter account was swift to defend Hamilton's time as being an anomaly:

"

Of course, that time from @LewisHamilton not representative after red flags brought a premature end to #FP3... #F1 http://t.co/EwJhKdPWkK

— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) June 6, 2015"

Having performed to a much higher standard in the first two practice sessions, Hamilton can certainly hope to improve ahead of Sunday's race, failing to register a single "clean lap" in the third practice session.

The session came to an end following Button's early stop and the official Sky Sports Formula 1 Twitter account revealed his engine troubles would prevent him from participating in qualifying later that evening:

"

Jenson Button will NOT take part in qualifying as car needs an engine change #SkyF1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/NcbNa8JWmg

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 6, 2015"

Those drivers who did manage to perform well during third practice did so on super-soft tyres for the most part, but the lack of research prior to Saturday evening's qualifying again threatens to distort data.

FP2: Hamilton Top, but Crashes in Rain Affected Session

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton crashed his Mercedes in difficult conditions in second practice in Canada, but the reigning world champion was still top of the standings come the end of the session.

The heavens opened in Montral halfway through this session, prompting a lot of teams to bring their drivers in. But Mercedes opted to send both of their men out on intermediate tyres, and Hamilton aquaplaned into the barrier under braking.

As the team’s official Twitter account confirmed, the Brit was able to walk away from the crash unscathed:

"

Fortunately only a light impact for @LewisHamilton - he's out of the car and all ok #F1 #CanadianGP #FP2... http://t.co/EwJhKdPWkK

— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) June 5, 2015"

With the rain very heavy at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, it was a peculiar choice by the reigning world champion team to send their stars onto the track. Not because of the weather entirely, as getting some laps in the wet done could be helpful come race day, but because they opted for the inters instead of full wet tyres.

Earlier in the session, Lewis also endured a few hairy moments. Clearly pushing hard on the super-soft compound, Hamilton very nearly put his Mercedes into the wall early on; he also spun off at the final turn not long after, making a similar error to the one that we saw in FP1.

But after those scares, the Brit put in a blistering lap to surge to the top of the standings ahead of the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, who were second and third, respectively.

With plenty of drivers getting set for some quick stints, the rain started to tumble down. While Hamilton and Rosberg each went out to test the conditions, they were very much in the minority, and any chance of more wet laps were abated after Lewis’ smash.

As we can see here courtesy of Lotus’ official Twitter feed, conditions were treacherous, and with around 30 minutes remaining in the session, they confirmed they were done for the day:

"

It's VERY wet out there unfortunately so that's us done for the day. #FP2 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/VOMDb1zhCt

— Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) June 5, 2015"

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explained the thinking behind sending their drivers out in the wet, per BBC Sport:

"

We wanted to so some clutch calibration and this is how it ended. I think he just aquaplaned. The front wing is gone but hopefully no more.

He was pretty quick, he's fastest on the timesheets. I wouldn't read that much into it. It's just one of those Fridays where it's difficult to get a lap together.

"

The weather deteriorated even more in the latter stages of the session, and although plenty hung around in the stands with the hope of seeing some action, it was no surprise to see none of the drivers brave the sodden circuit.

You suspect Mercedes will come in for more criticism on the back of their decision to send their drivers out on the inters, especially after their tactical naivety cost Hamilton a race win in Monaco during the previous round.

Thankfully, there wasn’t much damage to the car, and Lewis able to walk away unscathed, but the team would have been desperate to have enjoyed an incident-free Friday in Montreal. Unfortunately, they got anything but.

Here are the full results from the session, per the official Formula 1 Twitter account:

"

FINAL PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF #FP2) #CanadianGP #BonjourF1 pic.twitter.com/1A7lc7uo44

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 5, 2015"

FP1: Hamilton on Top Ahead of Rosberg

Charles Coates/Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton was top of the standings after an eventful opening practice session in Canada on Friday.

The Mercedes man spun at the iconic hairpin, but still did enough to edge out team-mate Nico Rosberg, who was narrowly behind in second place. As we can see here courtesy of the Formula 1 Twitter feed, the German did have the chance to pass Lewis after his minor faux pas:

"

This way? Or that way? Lewis Hamilton spins his @MercedesAMGF1 and is passed by Nico Rosberg #CanadianGP #FP1 pic.twitter.com/0lPSoynx3v

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 5, 2015"

In truth, Hamilton wasn’t the only man to end up facing the wrong way, as a clutch of drivers struggled for grip on a track that hadn’t yet been rubbered in. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and Williams’ Valterri Bottas both made errors prior to the Mercedes man.

For Bottas, it was another disappointing moment in a tough start to the season. Many picked Williams as Mercedes’ most likely rivals this year, but their poor beginning to the 2015 campaign was compounded with a miserable showing at Monaco last time out.

Encouragingly, according to Andrew Benson of BBC Sport, they should be a lot more competitive in Montreal this weekend:

"

Williams had a dire weekend in Monaco, qualifying both cars well outside the top 10 and finishing 14th with Valtteri Bottas. The track exposed the car's lack of low-speed grip, which is both aerodynamic and mechanical.

But the team are expecting a much better weekend in Canada, thanks to taking a fresh engine in both cars and what Bottas calls 'a small aero upgrade.’

"

Another team struggling for form is McLaren, particularly Jenson Button. Once again, some early mechanical failures prevented the former world champion from getting a full practice session under his belt, as his car was stuck in second gear, as we can see here:

"

Button to McLaren: "I can't get out of second gear here..." #CanadianGP #BonjourF1 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/kpBEVn6UTP

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 5, 2015"

Ferrari focused on longer stints in the first session, meaning neither Sebastian Vettel nor Kimi Raikkonen, who finished fifth and 12th respectively, were in the mix for top spot.

Lotus will have been encouraged by the performance of Romain Grosjean, putting in some scintillating laps and getting closest to the two Mercedes juggernauts. Nico Hulkenberg also performed well, finishing up in fourth in his Force India.

After the way in which he lost the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton will have been delighted to get back in the car and get some laps on the board. Being on top of the standings with a comfortable margin will do plenty to placate his mood, but he’ll be insatiable for speed until he’s back on the top spot of the podium again. 

Here are the full results, via the Team Lotus Twitter feed:

"

And here is the final timing screen for #FP1 at the #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/H0MkXW8PJs

— Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) June 5, 2015"