MAX POWER.. & NO BUTTS Verstappen keeps his head to edge out Lewis

MAX VERSTAPPEN edged out championship leader Lewis Hamilton in opening practice for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Verstappen had threatened to headbutt someone if he continued to be quizzed about his error-prone campaign on Thursday, but the Dutchman allowed his driving to do the talking at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Verstappen set a best lap of one minute and 13.302 seconds to finish clear of Hamilton, with Daniel Ricciardo third in the other Red Bull.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who trails Hamilton by 14 points, was fourth. Hamilton has admitted he may not be in contention this weekend after his Mercedes team failed to bring a scheduled engine update to Montreal.

It means Hamilton, 33, is set to be down on power, while continuing with an engine that he has used at every round since the opener in Australia. In contrast, Vettel has the luxury of a fresh Ferrari power unit.

But Hamilton, who is chasing a record-equalling seventh win in Montreal, was just nine hundredths of a second down on Verstappen.

Vettel, without a win from his last four outings, was 0.272secs behind 20-year-old Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas finished fifth for Mercedes, one place ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Fernando Alonso is competing in his 300th grand prix this weekend, and the two-time world champion was the best of the rest.

The 36-year-old

Spaniard was just over half-a-second off the pace in seventh with his Mclaren team-mate Stoffel

Vandoorne ninth.