George Russell raised hope of a first Mercedes win of the season after he finished fastest in second practice for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The British driver, who took pole position in Montreal last year, edged out McLaren compatriot Lando Norris, with Kimi Antonelli underlining Mercedes’ speed to set the third quickest time.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri was only sixth, with Lewis Hamilton eighth, one place ahead of Max Verstappen, who had earlier finished fastest in the first running of the weekend.

Russell has been one of the grid’s standout performers this season with four podium finishes already under his belt, matching the tally he managed for the entire 2024 campaign.

At the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Friday, Russell’s lap of one minute and 12.123 seconds was the fastest of the day to leave Norris trailing.

McLaren have dominated the campaign so far, but in practice here they appeared to be lacking the advantage which has carried them to seven wins from the nine races staged.

Norris was in striking range of Russell, just 0.028sec behind the Mercedes man, but Piastri was 0.439sec off the pace, having finished the first practice session in 14th.

Williams’ Alex Albon took fourth, with Fernando Alonso fifth, but the two-time world champion’s Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll crashed out.

Stroll, who had a medical procedure on a wrist injury which prevented him from contesting the Spanish Grand Prix a fortnight ago, thudded into the concrete wall at turn seven to bring an abrupt end to his session.

The Canadian was the day’s second major casualty after Charles Leclerc’s preparations for the rest of the weekend were dealt a blow when he suffered a heavy accident with just nine laps on the board in first practice.

The Monegasque crashed into the barrier on the entry to turn four and sustained significant damage to the left-hand side of his Ferrari. The force of the impact sent him sideways and across the other side of the chicane.

“F***,” said Leclerc on the radio. “Sorry, I am in the wall. My bad. I should have gone straight, but I thought I would make the corner and I hit the wall.”

Leclerc’s survival cell on his Ferrari needed replacing which sidelined him for the remainder of the day.

His accident marked an underwhelming day for Ferrari which will have done little to lift the gloom around the Italian team with Hamilton 0.530 sec slower than the pace-setting Russell.