Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two in Canada FP1

Mercedes made an impressive start to the Canadian Grand Prix weekend by sweeping to a one-two finish in opening practice in Montreal, led by reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Chasing his seventh Canadian Grand Prix victory this weekend, Hamilton made a flying start to proceedings at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve by topping FP1 ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, heading up a one-two finish for Mercedes.

Bottas and Hamilton were tied for a period of the session after setting identical lap times, only for Hamilton to pull clear with a lap of 1m12.767s, giving him an edge of 0.147 seconds over the Finn in second place. Bottas' session was brought to an early end due to a hydraulic issue in the final few minutes.

Mercedes bolted clear of the field in FP1 as Ferrari and Red Bull struggled to keep up, both finishing over nine-tenths of a second off the pace.

Charles Leclerc was the closest challenger to the Mercedes in P3, 0.953 seconds back from Hamilton at the top, while Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel could only finish fifth, having also spun his car at the hairpin during the session.

Kimi Raikkonen finished as the leading midfield driver in FP1 for Alfa Romeo, taking sixth, but was left to lead the team solo for much of the session after teammate Antonio Giovinazzi crashed out at the Turn 9 chicane, sparking a Virtual Safety Car period.

Carlos Sainz wound up seventh for McLaren ahead of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, with Racing Point's Sergio Perez and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.

2019 FORMULA 1 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS