First practice at Canadian Grand Prix cancelled due to CCTV failure

Philip Duncan, PA F1 Correspondent, Montreal

Formula One first practice at the Canadian Grand Prix was embarrassingly cancelled after a CCTV failure at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The opening one-hour running of the weekend was red-flagged after just four minutes when Pierre Gasly broke down in his Alpine.

Only a handful of drivers had posted a lap with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell among those who had not taken to the track.

RACE CONTROL: "FP1 will not be resumed" #CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/uinWYfj2fm

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 16, 2023

The running had been expected to restart as usual following the removal of Gasly’s Alpine, but F1’s governing body, the FIA, blamed “issues with local CCTV infrastructure” for the initial delay.

The suspension in play then became temporary with the FIA confirming at 2.20pm local time that the session would not be resumed leaving an estimated 90,000 spectators short-changed.

The FIA said that the concluding running of the day, which was due to start at 5pm local time, would be brought forward to 16:30 to allow for 30 minutes more running.

RED FLAG 🚩

Pierre has stopped on track with a gearbox issue.#Alpine #CanadianGP

— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) June 16, 2023

An FIA spokesperson said: “The delay will be longer as the CCTV is not synced correctly and until the issue has been fixed we cannot run on track.

“This system is a local installation and they are continuing to work to resolve the problem.

“The clock will continue to run down on FP1 and the session will not be extended as there must be two hours between FP1 and FP2.”