F1 LIVE | Follow Sprint Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix here

The first and only session of the weekend so far once again saw championship leader Kimi Antonelli set the benchmark, with the Italian topping the timesheets on a 1:13.402. George Russell finished just 0.142s behind in second, while Lewis Hamilton secured third place ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, ended the session sixth and seventh respectively.

FP1 proved to be a chaotic and heavily interrupted session, with Race Control forced to deploy three separate red flags across the hour, ultimately leading officials to extend the session by an additional 15 minutes. The opening stoppage arrived just 10 minutes into the session after Liam Lawson was forced to pull over and park his Racing Bulls on track due to a technical issue, temporarily bringing the action to a halt while the stranded car was recovered.

The second interruption came around the halfway mark following a sizeable crash for Alexander Albon at Turn 7. Early onboard footage appeared to show the Williams driver losing control shortly after striking a marmot on the straight leading into the second sector, before spinning into the barriers and bouncing back across the track.

A final red flag was then triggered in the closing stages after Esteban Ocon lost control of his car and damaged the front wing, scattering debris over the circuit and forcing another suspension of the session just minutes before the end.

The closing stages also produced a major scare for George Russell, who came within inches of throwing away a promising start to his Montréal weekend. The Mercedes driver suddenly lost control of his W17 on the exit of Turn 1, sliding at high speed towards the barriers before somehow managing to regain control just moments before impact.

For a few seconds, it appeared the Briton could have caused significant damage to the car only hours before Sprint Qualifying, but Russell ultimately escaped without major consequences and was able to continue running, avoiding an unwanted rebuild for the Mercedes mechanics.

The session is set to get underway at 21:30 BST, with minute-by-minute LIVE updates available throughout on GPblog.