Red Bull's Max Verstappen, under pressure to clean up his act after a string of crashes and costly errors, has clocked the fastest time in both free practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Verstappen's teammate, Australian Daniel Ricciardo, ran third in practice, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen between them.
The young Dutchman Verstappen clocked 1:12.198 seconds.
"Today was a good day, the car is working very well. We did not really change a lot initially and that's always a good sign and gives you hope," said Verstappen.
"I think we looked quite competitive and it was a positive start to the weekend.
"So far everything went well and I have a good feeling."
Verstappen arrived in Montreal under attack from all corners, after an incident-filled start to the season in which the 20-year-old reach the podium once in six races, while Ricciardo has recorded a pair of wins.
It has been a campaign filled with miscues.
He retired in Azerbaijan after a collision with Ricciardo and in China he tangled with Hamilton and Vettel, finishing fifth after a 10-second penalty demoted him from fourth, while Ricciardo won the race.
Before that, he collided with Hamilton in Bahrain and retired while he had a 360-degree spin in Australia and finished sixth after starting fourth.
Mercedes' championship leader Lewis Hamilton, chasing a record equalling seventh Canadian Grand Prix win, was fourth best ahead of his Ferrari championship rival Sebastian Vettel and team mate Valtteri Bottas.
If Hamilton is to secure what would be a record seventh pole in Canada on Saturday the Briton will have to squeeze more out an engine that is running in its seventh race.
"It's such a fun track to drive and we didn't have any problems, I really enjoyed it," said Hamilton, who has won the last three straight races on the Montreal circuit.
Share
