Russell Leads Canadian GP Practice as Leclerc Sits Out with Damage

George Russell set the pace for Mercedes during the second practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix, delivering a strong showing on Thursday in Montreal. The British driver topped the timesheets, indicating a positive start to the weekend for the Silver Arrows. He finished ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, who secured the second-fastest time, with Mercedes junior driver Kimi Antonelli rounding out the top three, further highlighting Mercedes' potential performance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. While Russell enjoyed a productive session, Scuderia Ferrari faced a significant setback as Charles Leclerc was unable to participate in FP2. The Monegasque driver's SF-25 sustained damage that required attention, forcing him to miss crucial track time. Practice sessions, particularly FP2, are vital for teams and drivers to gather data, test different setups, and understand tyre behaviour over longer runs in preparation for qualifying and the race. Missing a full hour of this valuable time could compromise Ferrari's data collection and refinement process for Leclerc's car. The absence of Leclerc in FP2 means Ferrari will need to work quickly to analyze data from Carlos Sainz and the limited running Leclerc completed in FP1 to optimize his car setup for the remainder of the weekend. For Russell and Mercedes, topping the session provides a boost, although practice times can sometimes be misleading regarding true competitive order as teams run varying fuel loads and engine modes. Norris's position in P2 suggests McLaren could also be contenders, building on their recent form. Antonelli's appearance in the top three is another encouraging sign for Mercedes' development program and potentially for the team's overall pace this weekend. The varying fortunes seen in practice set the stage for an intriguing qualifying session and race in Montreal. While Mercedes shows promising pace and McLaren remains competitive, Ferrari will be aiming to recover from Leclerc's lost session and demonstrate their full potential as the weekend progresses. All eyes will now turn to the final practice session and, crucially, qualifying, to see where the teams truly stand on the challenging Canadian circuit.