Verstappen cruises to another pole position during a chaotic wet qualifying in Canada that saw Alex Albon top Q2 and Hulkenberg initially qualify on the front row before receiving a penalty.
Q1
It was a mixed session for Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu. As soon as he left the pits his session was seemingly over, with his car providing no power, and he stopped on track. This brought out the red flag, with only the two Williams drivers and Valtteri Bottas having set a time. However Zhou was able to come back to the pits in the end, and actually came back out once qualifying resumed, with the issue seemingly resumed. However he was ultimately the slowest of anybody in the session.
The damp track meant that drivers were constantly improving their times, making it difficult to see where everyone truly was until the end, where the standings became relatively normalised.
The closest thing to a shock elimination in Q1 would have been Pierre Gasly, whose last lap was compromised following a bizarre incident involving Carlos Sainz. A lot of traffic had gathered towards the final chicane in the dying seconds of the session, some cars on flying laps, some on out laps. Sainz found himself going incredibly slowly into the entry of the chicane, causing Gasly to have to take to the run off and ultimately end his session. Sainz was awarded a three place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race as a result.
Eliminated
16. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +0.016
17. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.156
18. Nyck De Vries – Alpha Tauri +0.407
19. Logan Sargeant – Williams +0.607
20. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo +0.612
Q2
By this point the track had started to dry enough for discussions of dry tyres to start. Norris had said he believed the slicks would be quicker, whilst Albon had already went out on the soft tyres at the start. Leclerc had wanted to go onto softs but his team wanted to at least get a banker lap in first, seeing as Verstappen had set a lap on intermediates.
Some doubts might have been raised about dry tyres when Stroll spun on intermediates, though these would have been quickly dismissed as Verstappen joined the soft runners.
Albon had gone fastest on his softs, and it seems that he had timed is lap to perfection, as rain began to fall shortly afterwards. This meant that whilst Albon was able to get onto the right tyres at the right time, others weren’t quite as lucky.
Leclerc and Perez both found themselves failing to reach Q3 for the second consecutive weekend. Both drivers failed to make proper use of the slick tyres during the short period that they were faster. Even Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton found himself on the bubble, though was just about safe.
Eliminated
11. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.189
12.Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.533
13. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +1.058
14. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +1.252
15.Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo +1.395
Q3
Early laps were critical in Q3 as the rain was set to only get heavier as time continued. Verstappen was quick as always, and would ultimately set a pole time of 1:25.858, over a second faster than anyone else would end up going this session.
Most drivers were able to go round for two laps, though a yellow flag had been brought out following a crash from Oscar Piastri. This only gave a brief period of time for drivers to finish their laps before an almost inevitable red flag was flown.
It was at this point that Nico Hulkenberg was able throw his Haas right up to 2nd place, ahead of Alonso in the Aston Martin and both Mercedes’. This would have been Haas’ best ever starting position for a grand prix, but Hulkenberg would later receive a three place grid penalty for a red flag infraction. This was because the red flag had fallen almost immediately after he completed his lap, though the German had initially continued with another flying lap. The penalty pushes Alonso up to the front row.
Though the red flag was flown with about 7 minutes left, by the time green flag running resumed the track was simply too wet to make any meaningful improvements.
Qualifying Results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:25.858
2. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas +1.244 (3 place grid penalty)
3. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +1.428
4. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +1.769
5. George Russell – Mercedes +2.035
6. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +2.087
7. Lando Norris – McLaren +2.188
8. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari +3.436 (3 place grid penalty)
9. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +5.491
10. Alex Albon – Williams NO TIME
