FP1 spends majority of session under red flag conditions due to CCTV issue
F1 News
- Toby McLuskie
Valtteri Bottas has finished on top in FP1, due to almost all of the session being red-flagged due to CCTV issues. The issues ran for almost all of the hour-long session and also caused the first practice of the weekend to end early.
The session was red-flagged just five minutes into FP1, as Pierre Gasly’s Alpine struggled to get going and ended up sitting at the side of the road, as the Frenchman was unable to get the car into gear.
Following the red-flagging for this, a CCTV infrastructural issue further added to the time and as the local team tried to work around it and sort it out, fans had to sit and try and entertain themselves with no cars on track.
The flag lasted for so long that Gasly’s Alpine was placed onto a low loader and returned to the pits, allowing the team to work on the issue to try and get him back on track.
Before the red flag, just three laps were completed, which led to Bottas being on top, with the majority of teams not actually putting a lap time on the board.
Due to the teams and drivers not having any time to run on track, the FIA made the decision to extend FP2 to 90 minutes, meaning the session will start at 16:30 local time in Montreal.