Can Mercedes stay on top or will McLaren bounce back in Canada?

George Russell got his first FP2 top-spot of the year as he set the pace for Mercedes at a sunny but chilly Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal. Meanwhile championship leaders McLaren had one of their trickiest – if not the trickiest – opening practice days of the year. But do the Silver Arrows have what it takes to stay on top?

Russell was in fine spirits after FP2, the Mercedes driver delighted with a "very positive day" as he made the most of the cooler conditions (which his Silver Arrow prefers) to set the pace on the medium tyre.

According to ideal lap data, if he got all his best mini-sectors together on the same lap, his advantage over Norris would have been even greater.

But he wasn't getting carried away with that result, the Briton adding the team lay "it all on the table, full beans, power and all the rest" and the team have to be "realistic" about their chances this weekend.

It implies that he expects the team, who were marginally quicker than McLaren on the straights and nearly 0.2s quicker than their papaya rivals in the slower corners, to drop behind the championship leaders when things ramp up this weekend.

Nonetheless Mercedes, who were mighty here last year with Russell having taken pole, are looking the most competitive they've been in weeks.

Data suggests they are in the fight for the front row once more and while they drop to P3 in the pace rankings, they are still in the mix as they are just 0.16s slower than pace-setters McLaren.

Lando Norris said McLaren had their "worst Friday of the year so far" despite the championship contender ending up just 0.028s adrift of Russell in second practice.

The Briton was running a new suspension geometry, which the team hoped would help give him confidence under braking. Both he and tea mate Oscar Piastri had the option to use it – but only Norris did so, with Piastri having been happy with the car when on the absolute limit.

Though Norris admitted the feeling felt "pretty similar" with the upgrade, he still feels the team are in "a good position" and that "it's close" at the sharp end.

The data backs that up, with McLaren in a tight fight with Mercedes and Red Bull for pole. However, they do look the strongest of all in terms of race pace – with the papaya cars enjoying an advantage worth 0.2s in the medium-speed corners.

While it may have been one of the team's most challenging days this year, they are still arguably the ones to beat this weekend.

Max Verstappen rebounded from a difficult end to his Spanish Grand Prix with aplomb in FP1 in Montreal as he got up to speed straight out of the box on a dusty and green (a surface with little to no rubber) circuit.

His balance moved away from him in FP2, which meant he wasn't as comfortable in the car – and that impacted his lap times. But he didn't seem too worried when talking to the media after the session.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda had a tough day but he too was optimistic as he said: "I know there's something coming for tomorrow which is good – that will hopefully give me a bit of free lap time".

The data suggests Red Bull – which was quickest in the slow turns – are in the fight at the sharp end for pole, just 0.05s adrift in terms of one-lap pace.

Their race pace is only fractionally worse – 0.06s – to suggest if they qualify well, Red Bull are contenders for victories.

Ferrari endured a painful start to their Canadian Grand Prix weekend as Charles Leclerc crashed in FP1, causing damage to the chassis that was so severe, he was forced to miss the second session, too.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest in FP2 but he said his day was "not particularly great" and that "it will be a challenge to get into Q3 at this rate but not impossible".

Data suggests it's not quite so bad for the Italian team as they are fourth quickest in terms of qualifying pace (which would be the fourth row on the grid), albeit nearly three tenths of a second off the pace.

Their deficit in terms of race pace was exactly the same at 0.29s.

Leclerc was refusing to be downbeat despite his lack of running, with the Monegasque saying he "felt very confident with the car" before the crash and the incident hasn't "hurt my confidence".

He faces a big FP3 to recover the lost lap time and find a way to get in the picture with the likes of Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull.