The Canadian Grand Prix weekend got off to a chaotic start on Friday, after fans were told that practice had been canceled – only for it to go ahead as planned.

The start of proceedings were marred by heavy rain, thunder and hail storms in Montreal, leading to fans being told to shelter in place, and the grandstands being evacuated.

Despite no official postponement coming from the FIA, fans took to social media to claim that local police had told them to leave the site, and that all track activity had been canceled for the day.

 

Furthermore, others reported tannoy announcements at train stations around the city that FP1 and FP2 were off – despite that not being the case.

Shortly before FP1’s official start time of 1:30pm EST, Mail Sport spoke to the FIA in Montreal to confirm that all sessions would be continuing as normal, and an official announcement followed thereafter.

Heavy rain marred the start of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend in Montreal on Friday
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Heavy rain marred the start of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend in Montreal on Friday

No cars were out on track and fans were forced to shelter for the start of first practice
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No cars were out on track and fans were forced to shelter for the start of first practice

The day started with bright sunshine for the drivers' arrivals to the paddock in Canada
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The day started with bright sunshine for the drivers’ arrivals to the paddock in Canada