F1 Canadian Grand Prix Friday Practice: What you need to know

F1’s travelling spectacle arrived at the beautiful Ile Notre Dame in Montreal in this, the final year of the five-year deal between Bernie and the promoters. Friday practice was filled with plenty of buzz and on-track action, which stirred the rumour mill and possible podium finishes come Sunday. Here’s what you need to know:

Shuffling the order

Although teams rarely show all their cards during the Friday sessions, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso surprised many when he narrowly snatched the top time in free practice one, edging out Lewis Hamilton and his nearly-unbeatable Mercedes by just 16/1,000ths of a second.

Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg was a close third, but Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull pulled up to fourth place, in what could be a resurgence of the four-time constructor’s champion’s fortunes.

In FP2, Hamilton reclaimed top spot followed by Rosberg, while Vettel moved to third in front of the Ferraris of Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. Don't be surprised if Ferrari's hard work over the last two weeks pays off before the weekend is over. 

Rumours of a new deal

It’s a well known fact that drivers and fans alike love the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and the atmosphere that Canada’s most European city provides, but as the final guaranteed F1 race in Montreal, rumours of the future are in full force. The city and its promoters currently pay a considerable amount less to host an F1 race compared to most locations, and there is pressure from Bernie to pay up. The race is a great draw for local business, and talk around the paddock is that a new deal could be put in place by this weekend.

What could it be? Well, a lot of work has to be done for F1 to return, but the hottest chatter is a 10-year deal which would see massive reconstruction of the paddock area, moving all garages and team hospitality to the inside of the track along the front straight, at a cost of $45 million. The existing suites would then be used as storage and homes for competitive rowing teams who make use of the waterways surrounding the circuit, while the paddock area could become a walkway on the outside of the track.

Red Bull sticking with Renault…For now

The turbocharged era hasn’t been too kind to four-time defending champ Sebastian Vettel, who has made it public knowledge that the new power units need improvement. We asked Team Principal Christian Horner about the difficulties surrounding the integration of the new 1.6-litre engines with the new ERS system and turbochargers, and to address talk that the team is looking for an engine switch.

“There are no plans to change in the near future, we’ll still have Renault engines in our cars next year, but obviously, they need to close the gap there – not just for ourselves, but for themselves as well,” Horner said.

“Obviously as a team [the performance] is frustrating because it’s not within our responsibility. But we have a good relationship with the Renault Nissan alliance and we’re relying on them to get these issues sorted as soon as possible.”

We’ll let you be the judge on this one.

Stay tuned for more action, news and paddock talk as it happens throughout the weekend from the Canadian Grand Prix.