Daniel Ricciardo believes Lewis Hamilton's pace on the harder tyres means he is the man to beat this weekend at the Canadian GP.

Mercedes opted to bring fewer sets of the Hypersoft compound than the rest and in practice on Friday would only use the Ultra and Supersoft rubber, setting the fourth best time in the process.

However, with a gap of less than six-tenths to pacesetter Max Verstappen, the Monaco race winner believes the additional grip from the pink-striped tyre will be enough to bring the world champion into play.

“I would say that Mercedes’ pace was really fast today,” Ricciardo told reporters in Montreal. “Even on the harder tyre, they were still doing pretty good lap times.

“I think they’ll be at this stage hard to beat, but I think we can still improve the car a lot, do more laps, learn a bit more and I think we’ll be okay.

“I guess the fight will be with Ferrari, too early to really know, but I’m sure Mercedes will be really fast tomorrow afternoon.”

Verstappen agreed with the Australian, despite setting the best time of the day, a 1m12.198s.

“It was a good start to the weekend, the car did everything it should do, straight away the set-up was right,” the Dutchman said.

“In terms of pole position, I think Mercedes will be very strong again. Our car works well, but whether that will be enough in Q3, I don’t know.”

A big question mark over Ricciardo going into the weekend was whether his engine would make it through after Red Bull opted against installing new components which would have resulted in a grid penalty.

After not sounding particularly clear in the morning, the 28-year-old lost about an hour in the afternoon as his mechanics tried to fix what was causing that problem but Daniel remains confident.

“We had what looked like an electrical problem. We had some problems this morning, they tried to fix it during lunch, but it didn’t improve, so yeah, we had to try and fix that,” he explained.

“We have the B-spec engine this weekend, the upgrade, and I think just configuring a few things on that, we’re not necessarily aligned, so we just had to go through a little bit of trial and error.

“A little bit obviously frustrating not to get many laps, but the problem doesn’t seem dramatic.”

Daniel Ricciardo has claimed earlier comments by Red Bull designer Adrian Newey were wrong and he isn't currently set for a grid drop at the Canadian GP.

After his MGU-K problem en route to the win last time out in Monaco and an expected upgrade from Renault, the Australian was thought to be odds-on to be exceeding his allowed allocation on some engine components and starting towards the back in Montreal.

That was then seemingly 'confirmed' by Newey on Monday but on Thursday the 28-year-old revealed, for now at least, he should be good to go.

“If something happens in practice and we are forced to change something, then I will get a penalty," he told reporters. “But for now, we still have enough parts to run, and if it runs reliably we will do the whole weekend with it.”

Ricciardo does admit it is merely a matter of when not if he'll have to mount a comeback through the field at a Grand Prix but hopes it can be put off for a long as possible.

"It could come as soon as Paul Ricard,” he said, the host of the returning French GP in two weeks time. “When I heard whispers of taking a penalty here, at that point I was like ‘I will take it in Paul Ricard but not here’.

“This is such a difficult circuit for overtaking and having such good momentum at the moment I think a penalty would take a bit of wind out of our sails. If we can escape this weekend without it, then I’d rather take it somewhere else."

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There would also be another longer-term benefit of holding off, even if many of the upcoming circuits, in theory, are tougher for overtaking.

"The earlier we take a penalty then maybe we have to take another one before the year is out," Ricciardo pointed out.

“Also, we know that especially coming here with the Hypersoft and we were good on the Hypersoft in Monaco, maybe it gives us a chance this weekend of having a strong race.

“We feel on paper this circuit should suit us more than a couple of the others coming up. Winning two in a row would be nice…starting 15th would [make victory] very unlikely here.”

Max Verstappen completed a practice double for Red Bull as he posted the fastest time in a busy second session at the Canadian GP on Friday.

The Dutchman lowered his morning benchmark by over a second with a 1m12.198s, just over a tenth clear of Kimi Raikkonen as the Finn led Ferrari's charge in P2.

Daniel Ricciardo had a troubled session losing around an hour of running while the team changed wiring and other components associated with his Renault engine to try and optimise its performance as it wasn't running cleanly.

Eventually, he would emerge for the final 20 minutes and moved upto third in the final minutes with a run on the Hypersoft tyre.

Mercedes stuck by their alternative approach of using the Ultrasoft and Supersoft tyres throughout Friday with Lewis Hamilton almost six-tenths slower in fourth, yet still very much in the frame for pole and the win.

Valtteri Bottas continued to lag, however, in sixth place and almost three-tenths down on his world champion teammate.

Sebastian Vettel's muted practice running also continued as he sat in the garage following a prolonged setup change, yet the German still didn't appear comfortable with his Ferrari as he was only fifth fastest completing a total of just 43 laps on the day.

Behind the top three teams, the times were very close as just over half a second covered P7 to P16.

Leading that group was Romain Grosjean in the upgraded Haas, but the Frenchman's day was blighted by hitting a groundhog towards the end of the session on the approach to the final chicane, damaging his front wing of which the American team has only one spare.

Force India always go well on low downforce circuits and Montreal is no different with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez eighth and ninth respectively.

Completing the top 10 was Fernando Alonso in his McLaren, as the Spaniard looks to simply score points on his 300th Grand Prix weekend.

Charles Leclerc impressed in P11 for Sauber, just ahead of Brendon Hartley's Toro Rosso, their positions may be slightly advanced, however, after several incidents including drivers that would be expected to be faster.

The two Renaults were well down the order as Nico Hulkenberg, in 14th, looked to recover from missing the first session following a gearbox problem but teammate Carlos Sainz would hit the wall exiting Turn 7, requiring a red flag to clear up the debris.

Stoffel Vandoorne also caused a Virtual Safety Car period after hitting the wall exiting Turn 9 and stopping just after the hairpin with a suspected broken suspension.

Williams' problems continue as they brought up the field once again. Lance Stroll was even warned his approach could lead to a second crash of the day at one point but the hometown driver would finish slightly ahead of teammate Sergey Sirotkin albeit 2.5 seconds off the pace.

Full times from the session can be seen below:

Sebastian Vettel admits the performance of Red Bull on the Hypersoft tyre in Monaco could make them a stronger threat in Canada this weekend.

Even though Daniel Ricciardo won the first V6 hybrid race in Montreal in 2014, the performance of the Milton Keynes outfit on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has often been engine limited with Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton claiming victory in the three years since.

However, Red Bull was the only leading team to not suffer from considerable graining and degradation on the new pink-striped tyre two weeks ago and if a similar story is repeated over the next three days, the four-time champion worries the engine advantage Ferrari and Mercedes enjoy may not be enough.

“I think first of all they had a better tyre wear than other people in Monaco and obviously that could help them here," Vettel admitted on Thursday.

“This track is different again, a different layout but I don’t know what they are having or not and what they have brought for updates and so on.

“I think we need to wait and see, but I expect it to be close just like the other races and hopefully Ferrari (are) in front.”

Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has admitted that this weekend is an important one for the Hypersoft compound as they evaluate its usage for the rest of the season.

"Now we have knowledge of the Hypersoft in a circuit that's not Abu Dhabi or Barcelona but Monte Carlo is quite a difficult circuit," motorsport boss Mario Isola stated.

"In Montreal, we will have more data, and that will be very important to understand where we can use the Hypersoft.

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"The Hypersoft was designed for street circuits, it is quite extreme, you can see from the level of grip and the lap time.

"The step in grip of the Hypersoft is quite high. The drivers feel the step in grip, and obviously they also feel the step in degradation."

Max Verstappen used the Hypersoft tyre to put Red Bull at the top of the timesheets in a largely subdued first practice session at the Canadian GP.

On a typically dusty Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to start the weekend, the Dutchman posted a 1m13.302s on the softest compound available to finish three-tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton on the red-striped Supersoft.

The second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo also used the pink-striped tyre to finish third, though interestingly he was able to improve on several flying laps before degradation started to be an issue.

Sebastian Vettel eased his way into the weekend with just 19 laps on the board and was late to set a representative time as some flying laps on the Hypersoft rubber saw him jump upto P4 in the closing minutes.

The two Finns, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, completed the top six with the Mercedes driver also on the Supersoft tyre, two steps harder than the other leading teams.

McLaren enjoyed a strong start in Montreal, using the Hypersoft compound from the beginning and featured well inside the top 10 throughout the session before Fernando Alonso eventually settled for seventh with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne ninth.

Carlos Sainz was eighth but was the sole Renault to set a time in the session as a gearing problem left Nico Hulkenberg stranded on track early on leading to a red flag and an 11-minute delay.

The newly upgraded Honda power unit topped of the speed trap in the back of Brendon Hartley's Toro Rosso in Practice 1 but it was Pierre Gasly in the better position in P10 for the junior Red Bull team.

Force India and Haas are two teams expected to go well this weekend but Esteban Ocon was only 11th for the Silverstone-based squad with Romain Grosjean 12th for the Anglo-American outfit.

Marcus Ericsson survived a scary spin at the Turn 8&9 chicane in the final moments which left him facing the oncoming traffic, but it was a solid session for Sauber with the Swede 13th, one place ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.

At the back though, there would be problems for Williams as they sat bottom of the times, excluding the stranded Hulkenberg, and saw both drivers hit the wall as Lance Stroll tapped the Wall of Champions exiting the final chicane causing a puncture before Sergey Sirotkin spun at hit the barrier at Turn 6.

Full session times can be seen below:

Lewis Hamilton admits simply making the finish of this weekend's Canadian GP is now his biggest concern after Mercedes delayed the introduction of a second engine.

A possible quality issue on the upgrade for the new unit was the reason given for the Brackley-based team's decision but it could have significant consequences for the world champion, his teammate Valtteri Bottas, and both Mercedes customers, Williams and Force India.

“This is a power circuit, so it was our target and it definitely would have been helpful,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“But the guys worked as hard as they could and had to take a sensible decision to not bring it here, which is definitely unfortunate, but we’ll try and make do without.

“But it will mean our performance is probably not the greatest."

All six Mercedes-powered cars will be using the same engine that has completed the opening six races which means the peak performance will likely be a few per cent down on a brand new engine.

“All I’m hoping for is reliability. If I’m on the seventh race with a difficult circuit on engines, I want to see it through. That’s my main concern," the Briton said.

“Naturally I’m still here to win but, as I said, if they [Ferrari] have got upgrades on their engines, which are going to be a tenth to two tenths, Ferrari are particularly very strong on the straights, it’ll be interesting to see if we are able to match them or not.

“But we’ll give it everything, that’s for sure.”

A possible saving grace for Hamilton is that a slow pace in Monaco allowed for greater engine management and he too claims to have "saved a lot of mileage" in the opening races.

“Our goal is to finish every single race so I’m hoping for the reliability and I can try and make the difference on the track with my driving,” Lewis added.

Max Verstappen has finally reached his limit when it comes to questions about his driving style after a tetchy press conference on Thursday.

The Dutchman has undoubtedly had a tough 2018 which has been blighted by four key incidents at the opening six races, the latest being a crash during final practice in Monaco which ruled him out of qualifying.

Critics have consistently called on the Red Bull driver to tame his all-out attack approach, with his more conservative drive to ninth from last in Monte Carlo now an example, but Verstappen remains defiant.

“I’m really tired of all the comments about me, that I should change my approach,” the 20-year-old said ahead of the Canadian GP.

“I will never do that. It has brought me to where I am at right now and after the race is not the right time to talk. So, everybody who has those comments, I don’t listen to it anyway. I just do my own thing."

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Verstappen has just 35 points to his name this season, half that of teammate Daniel Ricciardo who also has two wins to his name, but he insists his focus is only the future.

“Of course it hasn’t been going that well in the way I like it. A few mistakes, especially Monaco and China, but it doesn’t make sense to keep talking about it," the three-time race winner stated.

“I get really tired of it. It just feels like there are no better questions out there other than to keep asking me about what in the previous weekend.

“I’m confident I can turn things around. The pace is there every single weekend.”

It was a question from the Daily Mail about why the incidents keep happening which saw Max finally lose his cool though.

“I don’t know," he retorted. “Like I said at the start of this press conference, I get really tired of the questions. I think if I get a few more I will headbutt someone.”

Formula 1 owners Liberty Media are considering an overhaul to the Grand Prix weekend format should that be the consensus of surveys being conducted to get the fans view.

It has been one of the areas that the leadership, under CEO Chase Carey, have often identified since taking over in 2016 with the possibility of reduced practice, a qualifying race and a shorter Sunday race all potential options.

What Liberty is keen to stress, however, is that such changes will only be done if it is thought to be at the approval of the viewers.

“One of the things we are actively engaged in is a huge amount of fan research,” former F1 sporting boss Steve Nielsen was quoted by Motorsport Week.

“It isn’t completed yet, but what we want to know is what fans really want from F1, from avid fans to people who don’t really engage with the sport, what they like, what they don’t like and what would make them watch more.

“The scale of this research has never been done in the sport before and it will have a big impact on how F1 is shaped for the future.”

What Neilsen, who is also a former Renault team manager, did concede though, is a lot of effort is going into attracting a new generation of F1 fans, which typically the hardcore fanbase doesn't agree with.

“We have our own ideas but we want to gauge opinion, as many opinions as possible," he insisted.

“Viewing figures were declining. There has been an improvement but F1 needs to change to engage with a wider audience. There are many people under the age of 30 for whom F1 is of little interest.

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“We need to retain the core values of the sport, while at the same time appealing to a younger audience. If we neglect that the sport will be in trouble.

"It is a difficult line to walk but that is what we have to do," he acknowledged. "Perhaps that does mean a shorter race, or slightly less free practice, more sudden-death situations.

“People engage with sport in a lot of different ways and they don’t necessarily want to give up a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday afternoon to do it. So every idea has to be on the table.”

Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley has again brushed off reports his future at the team is in the balance, ahead of the Canadian GP.

Earlier this week, McLaren revealed they had rejected an approach by Red Bull offering to take their young reserve driver Lando Norris for the rest of the season at the junior team.

The F2 racer was the latest in a number of names linked, including Pascal Wehrlein and Robert Kubica, however, the New Zealander, who has only a single point to his name this season compared to 18 for teammate Pierre Gasly, insists the situation is in his favour.

“It’s the second Grand Prix in a row I’ve been responding to the rumours, but it’s not really interesting for me to comment,” Hartley said in Montreal on Thursday.

“I know what my contract says, I’m very confident in the work I’ve been doing for Toro Rosso behind the scenes to develop the car."

The former WEC world champion also remains confident in his own performance even if the results haven't shown it.

"I know I have the ability to be here and doing a good job in Formula 1," he claimed. “I don’t have the points on the board, but I know it’s possible. I think it’s silly for me to comment on rumours, as that’s all they are.”

Also Read:

• Hartley admits to different pressure in F1 as speculation over future continues

Also under pressure is McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne as the Belgian struggles to remain on an even level with teammate Fernando Alonso.

“In reality, we are very, very closely matched," was his defence to reporters. "In terms of where I was last year, I feel in a much better position this year and I think things have not always gone my way.

“We’ve lacked a bit of luck in some of the occasions and, you know, on some occasions Fernando was just quicker as well, which is normal.

“But we’re heading in the right direction. The team is moving forward and obviously we have had a tough start to the season with a lot of expectation on us and we’ve not managed to perform as expected."

Daniel Ricciardo is holding off considering a new Red Bull contract for 2019 and beyond because Lewis Hamilton is stalling at Mercedes, according to Helmut Marko.

The Australian has consistently claimed he will bide his time before making what he considers the most important decision of his racing career, whether to stay with the company that brought him to where he is today or move to a team potentially better placed for championships.

Rumours had suggested Ricciardo was already in talks with Ferrari over replacing Kimi Raikkonen, while Mercedes has seemed less likely as they appear happy with the current line-up of Hamilton alongside Valtteri Bottas.

However, with the four-time world champion yet to sign an extension to his current deal, which expires at the end of 2018, Red Bull advisor Marko hopes he does so soon.

"I hope that finally gets signed because Ricciardo says that, as long as Hamilton is not yet contracted to Mercedes, he also does not want to sign. It’s a bit strange! " he said at the event which saw Marc Marquez drive an F1 car at Spielberg this week.

Also in attendance was triple world champion and non-executive chairman at Mercedes, Niki Lauda and his response to his fellow Austrian's comments were pretty clear.

"Lewis will sign. We only discuss details, not the money," he claimed. "It’s about promotion performances. Lewis stays safely with us, that will be solved.

"Ricciardo blackmailed you with Hamilton, who has not yet signed! What Hamilton gets, he cannot get anyway. So, we have not made him an offer."

Also Read:

• Red Bull prioritising 2019 engine deal over re-signing Ricciardo
• Red Bull chiefs warn Ricciardo against possible 2019 move
• What Hamilton told Ricciardo to do with his future after Monaco GP win

Another key decision Red Bull face this month is which engine to use in 2019, another factor that is also likely delaying Ricciardo's choice, with Renault and Toro Rosso supplier Honda the two options.

“We’re in talks,” Marko told Motorsport.com. “Our internal schedule plans that we want to have a decision on the engine issue by the Grand Prix in Austria. If possible, then also on the driver.

“I’m sure there’ll be a decision in Austria. There’s not that many possibilities.”