Antonelli quickest in Canada practice as Albon collides with groundhog

Kimi Antonelli led George Russell to a Mercedes one-two in a practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix that was interrupted after Alex Albon's Williams collided with a groundhog.

Albon crashed heavily when he was unable to avoid the animal on the exit of Turn Seven. The British-born Thai slid down the barriers for some distance on the straight that follows the corner, causing heavy damage to his car.

The red flag caused by the incident was one of three, the first when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson stopped on track with a loss of steering caused by a hydraulics leak, and the final one when Esteban Ocon crashed his Haas after spinning on the exit of Turn Four.

Antonelli, who leads Russell by 20 points after three wins in the first four races, was 0.142 seconds quicker than his team-mate.

Russell needed two attempts to get that close to the Italian, before spinning and lightly tapping the wall - with no damage to his car - at the start of a third effort.

A major upgrade package to the Mercedes for this race appeared to have had a significant effect, as Lewis Hamilton, third fastest in the Ferrari, was 0.774secs off the pace. The seven-time champion headed team-mate Charles Leclerc in fourth place by 0.179secs.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fifth fastest, 0.964secs off the pace, and ahead of both McLarens, world champion Lando Norris leading Oscar Piastri.

McLaren have the second part of two upgrade packages which the team have spread over this race and the last one in Miami, where Norris became the first driver this season to beat a Mercedes in qualifying or race when he won the sprint race from pole.

This is also a sprint weekend, and qualifying for the shorter race, held on Saturday before grand prix qualifying, is at 21:30 BST (16:30 local time) on Friday.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team's upgrade package centred on a front wing which he described as a "significant upgrade", adding: "There is a lot to review but we are happy so far."

Racing Bulls' British rookie Arvid Lindblad was eighth fastest in practice, ahead of Audi's Nico Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, who featured in the top 10 for the first time this season in any session.

The veteran two-time champion ran an offset tyre strategy, using softs earlier in the session than most other teams.

There have been a number of incidents where drivers have collided with groundhogs at the Canadian Grand Prix, including one last year involving Hamilton's Ferrari.

Groundhogs, a type of large ground squirrel native to North America, are commonplace around the track in Montreal, which is on an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence River.

"It's one of the risks of this circuit. I know that sounds strange," Williams team principal James Vowles told Sky Sports. "Unfortunately there's been a few of these.

"He [Albon] has hit a marmot [groundhog] and the damage is extensive from that point onwards.

"He needed this session. You get 60 minutes and that's it, and to lose over half of it is frustrating.

"Back in the garage he's more worried about his mum, who suspects he's going to have to pay to adopt a family of marmots because that's a consequence of that."