Russell on top in Canadian GP second practice
George Russell set the pace for Mercedes in the second Canadian Grand Prix practice after Red Bull's Formula One champion Max Verstappen led the opening session at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sat out the later session after crashing in the first, leaving mechanics plenty of work to repair the car.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who missed the previous race in Spain due to hand and wrist pain, crashed at turn seven in second practice for his home grand prix and smashed the front left suspension.
Russell's time of one minute 12.123 seconds compared to Verstappen's earlier afternoon effort of 1:13.193.
The pair qualified on the front row last year with identical times, with Russell on pole but Verstappen going on to win the race for a third year in a row.
They also clashed in Spain two weekends ago, with Verstappen left on the brink of a ban after driving into the Mercedes.
The Dutch driver was only ninth in Friday's second practice, behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren's Lando Norris the closest to Russell and only 0.028 slower.
"The car is jumping like crazy in the rear, like the ride is terrible," reported Verstappen over the radio.
Mercedes' strong form was emphasised by Russell's rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli setting the third best time, 0.288 off the pace.
Runaway championship leaders McLaren had made a comparatively slow start to the weekend until Norris's lap, with Australian Oscar Piastri seventh and sixth and testing upgrades including a new front wing.
Piastri, who leads Norris by 10 points after nine of the season's 24 rounds, received a 100 euros ($A178) fine for speeding in the pitlane in the first practice as the team tested upgrades including a new front wing.
Williams' Alex Albon was second and fourth in the sessions, but strangely missed his garage when pitting in the second and had to go around again, with teammate Carlos Sainz third and seventh.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso ended the day fifth.
Leclerc brought out the red flags when he hit the wall at the second chicane with 45 minutes remaining, causing extensive damage to his Ferrari. Ferrari said the survival cell needed to be replaced.
George Russell set the pace for Mercedes in the second Canadian Grand Prix practice after Red Bull's Formula One champion Max Verstappen led the opening session at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sat out the later session after crashing in the first, leaving mechanics plenty of work to repair the car.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who missed the previous race in Spain due to hand and wrist pain, crashed at turn seven in second practice for his home grand prix and smashed the front left suspension.
Russell's time of one minute 12.123 seconds compared to Verstappen's earlier afternoon effort of 1:13.193.
The pair qualified on the front row last year with identical times, with Russell on pole but Verstappen going on to win the race for a third year in a row.
They also clashed in Spain two weekends ago, with Verstappen left on the brink of a ban after driving into the Mercedes.
The Dutch driver was only ninth in Friday's second practice, behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren's Lando Norris the closest to Russell and only 0.028 slower.
"The car is jumping like crazy in the rear, like the ride is terrible," reported Verstappen over the radio.
Mercedes' strong form was emphasised by Russell's rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli setting the third best time, 0.288 off the pace.
Runaway championship leaders McLaren had made a comparatively slow start to the weekend until Norris's lap, with Australian Oscar Piastri seventh and sixth and testing upgrades including a new front wing.
Piastri, who leads Norris by 10 points after nine of the season's 24 rounds, received a 100 euros ($A178) fine for speeding in the pitlane in the first practice as the team tested upgrades including a new front wing.
Williams' Alex Albon was second and fourth in the sessions, but strangely missed his garage when pitting in the second and had to go around again, with teammate Carlos Sainz third and seventh.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso ended the day fifth.
Leclerc brought out the red flags when he hit the wall at the second chicane with 45 minutes remaining, causing extensive damage to his Ferrari. Ferrari said the survival cell needed to be replaced.
George Russell set the pace for Mercedes in the second Canadian Grand Prix practice after Red Bull's Formula One champion Max Verstappen led the opening session at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sat out the later session after crashing in the first, leaving mechanics plenty of work to repair the car.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who missed the previous race in Spain due to hand and wrist pain, crashed at turn seven in second practice for his home grand prix and smashed the front left suspension.
Russell's time of one minute 12.123 seconds compared to Verstappen's earlier afternoon effort of 1:13.193.
The pair qualified on the front row last year with identical times, with Russell on pole but Verstappen going on to win the race for a third year in a row.
They also clashed in Spain two weekends ago, with Verstappen left on the brink of a ban after driving into the Mercedes.
The Dutch driver was only ninth in Friday's second practice, behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren's Lando Norris the closest to Russell and only 0.028 slower.
"The car is jumping like crazy in the rear, like the ride is terrible," reported Verstappen over the radio.
Mercedes' strong form was emphasised by Russell's rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli setting the third best time, 0.288 off the pace.
Runaway championship leaders McLaren had made a comparatively slow start to the weekend until Norris's lap, with Australian Oscar Piastri seventh and sixth and testing upgrades including a new front wing.
Piastri, who leads Norris by 10 points after nine of the season's 24 rounds, received a 100 euros ($A178) fine for speeding in the pitlane in the first practice as the team tested upgrades including a new front wing.
Williams' Alex Albon was second and fourth in the sessions, but strangely missed his garage when pitting in the second and had to go around again, with teammate Carlos Sainz third and seventh.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso ended the day fifth.
Leclerc brought out the red flags when he hit the wall at the second chicane with 45 minutes remaining, causing extensive damage to his Ferrari. Ferrari said the survival cell needed to be replaced.
George Russell set the pace for Mercedes in the second Canadian Grand Prix practice after Red Bull's Formula One champion Max Verstappen led the opening session at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sat out the later session after crashing in the first, leaving mechanics plenty of work to repair the car.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who missed the previous race in Spain due to hand and wrist pain, crashed at turn seven in second practice for his home grand prix and smashed the front left suspension.
Russell's time of one minute 12.123 seconds compared to Verstappen's earlier afternoon effort of 1:13.193.
The pair qualified on the front row last year with identical times, with Russell on pole but Verstappen going on to win the race for a third year in a row.
They also clashed in Spain two weekends ago, with Verstappen left on the brink of a ban after driving into the Mercedes.
The Dutch driver was only ninth in Friday's second practice, behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren's Lando Norris the closest to Russell and only 0.028 slower.
"The car is jumping like crazy in the rear, like the ride is terrible," reported Verstappen over the radio.
Mercedes' strong form was emphasised by Russell's rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli setting the third best time, 0.288 off the pace.
Runaway championship leaders McLaren had made a comparatively slow start to the weekend until Norris's lap, with Australian Oscar Piastri seventh and sixth and testing upgrades including a new front wing.
Piastri, who leads Norris by 10 points after nine of the season's 24 rounds, received a 100 euros ($A178) fine for speeding in the pitlane in the first practice as the team tested upgrades including a new front wing.
Williams' Alex Albon was second and fourth in the sessions, but strangely missed his garage when pitting in the second and had to go around again, with teammate Carlos Sainz third and seventh.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso ended the day fifth.
Leclerc brought out the red flags when he hit the wall at the second chicane with 45 minutes remaining, causing extensive damage to his Ferrari. Ferrari said the survival cell needed to be replaced.
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"It's also right for the fans and for the broadcasters and the partners and so forth, who are all expecting competitive fixtures, and for the rugby-loving public here in Australia, "We'll play the game at the weekend, and we'll carry on having discussions with Rugby Australia, with (RA chief executive) Phil Waugh and the rest of the executive team." The Lions are licking their wounds following a shock 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin last week. Though stung by the defeat, it opened the conversation of whether Argentina or even France deserved to be included on the current rotation of Lions tours. Currently, the Lions only tour every four years, alternating between Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. "We remain open to having discussions about what the future for the Lions may hold, but those conversations are for another time," Calveley said. "You can certainly understand why people will get excited about that sort of a concept (a series in France). 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They will then play the Queensland Reds (July 2), the NSW Waratahs (July 5) and the ACT Brumbies (July 9) before facing a combined Australia and New Zealand outfit in Adelaide on July 12. The Force will unleash Wallabies squad members Nick Champion de Crespigny, Dylan Pietsch, Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain and Nic White against the Lions on Saturday. But complicating matters is the fact the Wallabies take on Fiji on July 6, meaning other Force squad members like Carlo Tizzano, Harry Potter, Jeremy Williams and Ben Donaldson are in camp with the Wallabies and will miss out on the first tour match against the Lions. Australian coach Joe Schmidt was initially keen to protect most of his squad from the tour games, but has since softened his stance somewhat. The Lions want Rugby Australia to make as many Wallabies players as possible available for the tour matches. "The agreement is very clear. It says that Test players have to be released to play in the fixtures leading into that Test series, and so that's our expectation," Lions chief executive Ben Calveley said on Monday. "I think it's really important that these games are competitive. "And it's not just from a performance standpoint. The players do want to test themselves, and they do want to build towards the Test series. "It's also right for the fans and for the broadcasters and the partners and so forth, who are all expecting competitive fixtures, and for the rugby-loving public here in Australia, "We'll play the game at the weekend, and we'll carry on having discussions with Rugby Australia, with (RA chief executive) Phil Waugh and the rest of the executive team." The Lions are licking their wounds following a shock 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin last week. Though stung by the defeat, it opened the conversation of whether Argentina or even France deserved to be included on the current rotation of Lions tours. Currently, the Lions only tour every four years, alternating between Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. "We remain open to having discussions about what the future for the Lions may hold, but those conversations are for another time," Calveley said. "You can certainly understand why people will get excited about that sort of a concept (a series in France). "What's not to like about some of those wonderful clubs you could play against and some of those wonderful venues in the summer time as well? "I've seen the feedback over the last couple of weeks from various people ... and it was enormously positive. But we're focused now on this tour. "We haven't made any decisions to go in that direction yet." The British and Irish Lions have put Rugby Australia on notice, declaring the governing body will be breaking an agreement if they don't release Wallabies players to oppose them in tour games. After touching down in Perth on Sunday night, the Lions attended a Welcome to Country ceremony at Kings Park on Monday ahead of the highly-anticipated three-match Test series against Australia. The first Test will take place at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on July 19, but before that comes a concerted build-up for the tourists. More than 40,000 fans are expected to turn out to watch the Lions take on the Force at Optus Stadium on Saturday night. They will then play the Queensland Reds (July 2), the NSW Waratahs (July 5) and the ACT Brumbies (July 9) before facing a combined Australia and New Zealand outfit in Adelaide on July 12. The Force will unleash Wallabies squad members Nick Champion de Crespigny, Dylan Pietsch, Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain and Nic White against the Lions on Saturday. But complicating matters is the fact the Wallabies take on Fiji on July 6, meaning other Force squad members like Carlo Tizzano, Harry Potter, Jeremy Williams and Ben Donaldson are in camp with the Wallabies and will miss out on the first tour match against the Lions. Australian coach Joe Schmidt was initially keen to protect most of his squad from the tour games, but has since softened his stance somewhat. The Lions want Rugby Australia to make as many Wallabies players as possible available for the tour matches. "The agreement is very clear. It says that Test players have to be released to play in the fixtures leading into that Test series, and so that's our expectation," Lions chief executive Ben Calveley said on Monday. "I think it's really important that these games are competitive. "And it's not just from a performance standpoint. The players do want to test themselves, and they do want to build towards the Test series. "It's also right for the fans and for the broadcasters and the partners and so forth, who are all expecting competitive fixtures, and for the rugby-loving public here in Australia, "We'll play the game at the weekend, and we'll carry on having discussions with Rugby Australia, with (RA chief executive) Phil Waugh and the rest of the executive team." The Lions are licking their wounds following a shock 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin last week. Though stung by the defeat, it opened the conversation of whether Argentina or even France deserved to be included on the current rotation of Lions tours. Currently, the Lions only tour every four years, alternating between Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. "We remain open to having discussions about what the future for the Lions may hold, but those conversations are for another time," Calveley said. "You can certainly understand why people will get excited about that sort of a concept (a series in France). "What's not to like about some of those wonderful clubs you could play against and some of those wonderful venues in the summer time as well? "I've seen the feedback over the last couple of weeks from various people ... and it was enormously positive. But we're focused now on this tour. "We haven't made any decisions to go in that direction yet."
