Verstappen faces smoky battery problem in practice

Max Verstappen

Formula One points leader Max Verstappen left the track early with his Red Bull machine smoking, while Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso had the fastest lap Friday in the second free practice at the Canadian Grand Prix.

After Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was hit by heavy rain, lightning and hail before the first practice session, Verstappen returned to the garage four laps into the second session after a run on dry tires. Red Bull said the smoke was caused by a battery issue.

"It's not ideal, I would have liked to drive more laps," Verstappen said. "It's definitely not how I would have liked to get on in FP2 but I think it's more important to figure out what actually happened and what kind of implications that will have for this weekend and the rest of the year."

Alonso had a fast lap of 1 minute, 15.810 seconds. Mercedes driver George Russell was second at 1:16.273, and Aston Martin's Lance Strol, the lone Canadian in field, followed at 1:16.464. "It was a tricky Friday for everyone. But it could be like this for qualifying and the race, so it's still very useful information. The right decision can gain you five seconds, wrong decision and you're out of the race," Alonso said.

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