Max Verstappen takes early Canadian practice honours after Charles Leclerc smashes into a barrier

Max Verstappen edged out Williams duo Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz at the end of a first practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix in which Charles Leclerc wrecked his Ferrari.

Fifteen minutes into the session, Leclerc suffered a disastrous crash at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, destroying the left-hand side of his SF-25.

Racing up the hill into Turn 3, Leclerc was seemingly caught in two minds on his approach as he was carrying too much speed.

Rather than taking to the escape road, the Monégasque braked too late, and as he turned in his attempt to make the fast right-hand turn, he instead smacked the corner of the barrier with the left-front wheel of his car.

The follow through saw the left-rear also destroyed before the SF-25 finally came to rest on the entry to Turn 8.

Leclerc had been top of the timesheet at that stage, and despite his heavy shunt, still finished 10th quickest after the hour-long run.

At the head of affairs was Verstappen in his Red Bull with a lap of 1:13.193s, 0.039s clear of Albon and 0.082s ahead of Sainz. It is the first time Verstappen has led a practice session this season.

As for McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the duo were seventh and 14th quickest, and clearly on different run plans to the likes of Verstappen and the Williams duo.

Piastri, in particular, was trialling a new front wing complete with eloquently named 'mermaid tails', whilst Norris was on an older spec.

After an early sighter from Hamilton with a lap of 1:17.018s, in beautiful conditions under clear blue skies, Verstappen shaved off a second before Albon did likewise, only for the Dutchman to post a 1:14.478s on his second push lap on the soft tyres.

For rookies Franco Colapinto and Kimi Antonelli, there were early moments of angst. The Argentinian spun on the approach to Turn 2 on his opening flier in his Alpine, whilst a few minutes later, the Italian suffered a moment of rear locking that forced him off track.

As the session continued, Leclerc soared to the top of the timsheet with a 1:13.885s, only for his session to come crashing to a halt soon after.

It sparked an eight-minute delay before running could resume following which their were mistakes for Norris, who took a trip across the grass; Russell with a moment through Turn 6, and then Hamilton with a spin through the Turn 10 hairpin.

Out front, Verstappen then edged Leclerc off top spot by 0.022s before Russell followed up on his next lap by going a third of a second quicker than the Dutch driver with a 1:13.535s.

Verstappen, though, was not to be denied as he additionally despatched Russel by almost the same amount of time, lowering the benchmark to 1:13.193s, which proved to be the quickest overall. Within a moment, Williams' Carlos Sainz followed over the line, just 0.082s down.

Williams underlined its pace at this circuit as Albon edged ahead of Sainz and to within 0.039s of Verstappen, who shortly before had bemoaned Hamilton being on the racing line, forcing him to take to the grass as he flashed past.

Another error from Norris followed with just under 15 minutes remaining, with the Briton forced to take to the grass between Turns 1 and 2 before he finally turned in a solid time to elevate himself up to seventh, 0.458s adrift.

In between Sainz and Norris was Russell, Hamilton, and Racing Bulls star Isack Hadjar, with his team-mate eighth Liam Lawson quickest.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly also finished ahead of Leclerc in ninth, 0.624s off the pace.

Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda finished 0.734s down on Verstappen in 11th, followed by Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Antonelli.

Colapinto was 19th, with Stake's Nico Hulkenberg bringing up the rear, 1.628s down.