The pit-stop decision that seemingly cost Lewis Hamilton a victory at the previous race in Monaco[3] was still a talking point when the paddock arrived in Canada.

"[4] Max Verstappen received a five-place grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix after causing a collision with Romain Grosjean in Monaco.

Prior to the first session of the weekend, the stewards placed a bollard in the run-off area to keep the drivers from re-entering the track too early.

"[8] Going into the race, Hamilton was leading the World Drivers' Championship by ten points from teammate Nico Rosberg, who had won the two previous rounds in Spain and Monaco.

Both Lotus and Force India showed good pace with Romain Grosjean and Nico Hülkenberg being third and fourth fastest respectively, though over 1.5 seconds behind Hamilton.

He went off at the turn ten hairpin and crashed his car while he was doing a run on intermediate tyres in wet conditions – a downpour of rain affected the second half of the session.

Nico Rosberg was fastest, half a second ahead of Räikkönen, while Hamilton drove just nine laps, ending the practice with the slowest time set.

Joining them on the sidelines were two more prominent drivers: both Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa suffered from problems with their power units, finishing 16th and 17th respectively.

[16] As the top ten took to the track for the final part of qualifying, Nico Rosberg was unable to beat his time set in Q2 with his first fast lap.

Row two was taken up by the two Finns, Räikkönen and Valtteri Bottas, who narrowly beat the two Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado.

The two Red Bulls finished eighth and ninth, splitting the two Force India cars of Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez.

[19] After qualifying, McLaren had to fit his car with a fifth heat motor generator unit (MGU-H) and a fifth turbo charger for the season.

[20] Sebastian Vettel was handed a five-place grid penalty for overtaking Manor's Roberto Merhi under red flags during the third free practice session.

While Massa passed Daniil Kvyat for seventh place on lap 21, Sebastian Vettel was stuck in 16th behind the McLaren of Fernando Alonso, who was told to save fuel, a problem that also afflicted his teammate Jenson Button.

The incident cost him twelve seconds and allowed Valtteri Bottas to stay ahead of him in third after he made a pit stop on lap 30.

Räikkönen made a pit stop again on lap 42, staying in fourth position ahead of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

In turn, Nico Rosberg felt that his qualifying performance on Saturday "[made] that big difference" and had cost him the chance at victory.

[30] For causing the collision with Will Stevens, Romain Grosjean was given two penalty points on his FIA Super Licence and said after the race: "I thought I was past the Manor, but it was soon clear that I wasn't.

"[32] Nico Hülkenberg in turn declared that Vettel "didn't leave me anywhere to go so to avoid contact I kept braking, lost the rear and spun".