Alonso narrowly leads Gasly and Vettel in wet final practice at Montreal

Fernando Alonso was quickest in the final practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix, which was run entirely in wet conditions.

The Alpine driver used intermediate tyres in the closing minutes to set the best time of a 1’33.836, just over five hundredths of a second quicker than the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. Sebastian Vettel was third fastest for Aston Martin, ahead of Esteban Ocon in the second Alpine.

Following regular storms and heavy rain over the previous two days, the track was sodden when the final practice session began. In conditions requiring full wet weather tyres to begin with, only the two Alfa Romeos and the two Haas cars went out at the start of the session.

They were soon joined by the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc – now doomed to start the race from the back of the grid – and Carlos Sainz Jnr as well as the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel. All drivers tiptoed around the soggy course, kicking up large rooster tails of spray into the air as they did so.

Unsurprisingly, many out on the track struggled to find grip on the soaked surface. Sainz slipped off the track at the turn eight and nine chicane, before Yuki Tsunoda did the same not long after. Kevin Magnussen ran over the grass at turn three, while his team mate Mick Schumacher ran off at the hairpin. Sebastian Vettel also missed the first corner while searching for grip. All drivers were able to continue.

Vettel completed eight laps in the wet, setting the fastest time of a 1’38.294 before returning to the garage. Tsunoda then improved to go quickest of all by three hundredths of a second, before running off the circuit at turn one on the next lap.

Sainz went two seconds faster than anyone else to go quickest of all with a 1’35.858, before Alonso jumped into second place going within three-tenths of the Ferrari. Alonso had a couple of off-track excursions before he sought the solace of the garage.

With half of the session gone, only the two Mercedes, two Red Bulls and Leclerc’s Ferrari had yet to set a lap time. Max Verstappen ventured out to have a go in the conditions, but pitted before completing a flying lap.

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Vettel returned to the track after a spell in the pits and improved by three seconds to retake the fastest time, 0.037s faster than Sainz and Alonso. With under 20 minutes now remaining in the session, Alonso was the first driver to take to the track on intermediate tyres. However, his first flying lap was almost 2.5 seconds slower than his personal best.

Alonso’s next effort was far better and he jumped to the top of the times with a 1’34.836. Sainz was now out in the Ferrari on the intermediates and he used them to improve to second, albeit seven tenths slower than Alonso. That was until Vettel came out on the intermediates to go fastest by three tenths over the Alpine, before Alonso took back the top spot by half a tenth.

Magnussen brought out the yellow flags in turn two after running off at turn one, continuing over the run-off and coming to a stop by the barriers. Fortunately, Magnussen managed to reverse his Haas out of the grass and continue. Soon after, Verstappen had a spin on his way around turn two, but again avoided the tyre wall before recovering on his way.

With the track conditions worsening, there were limited improvements in the final minutes. Alonso therefore ended the session fastest overall, ahead of Gasly who jumped up to second at the chequered flag, just half a tenth behind.

Vettel ended the session third fastest, with Alonso’s team mate Ocon in fourth. The McLarens of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris were fifth and sixth, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes. The two Red Bulls of Perez and Verstappen were eighth and ninth, with Sainz completing the top ten.

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2022 Canadian Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’33.836		15
2	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’33.889	0.053	17
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’33.891	0.055	18
4	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’34.003	0.167	16
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’34.110	0.274	14
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’34.248	0.412	13
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W13	1’34.259	0.423	11
8	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB18	1’34.498	0.662	10
9	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB18	1’34.616	0.780	10
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	F1-75	1’34.778	0.942	17
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’35.016	1.180	15
12	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’35.213	1.377	14
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’35.531	1.695	23
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’35.643	1.807	17
15	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W13	1’35.692	1.856	12
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’35.761	1.925	17
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’36.261	2.425	27
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’37.388	3.552	17
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’38.394	4.558	11
20	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	F1-75	No time		5

Combined 2022 Canadian Grand Prix practice times

Position	Number	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1’15.158	1’14.127	1’34.616		70
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’15.666	1’14.208	No time	0.081	66
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’15.404	1’14.352	1’34.778	0.225	82
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’16.041	1’14.442	1’33.891	0.315	85
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1’15.531	1’14.543	1’33.836	0.416	69
6	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1’16.165	1’14.879	1’33.889	0.752	80
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’15.822	1’14.971	1’34.259	0.844	70
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’16.211	1’14.987	1’34.248	0.860	60
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1’16.083	1’15.033	1’34.110	0.906	73
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’16.421	1’15.119	1’34.003	0.992	73
11	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1’15.619	1’15.167	1’34.498	1.040	70
12	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’15.877	1’15.396	1’35.531	1.269	88
13	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’15.877	1’15.421	1’35.692	1.294	63
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’17.555	1’15.499	1’35.643	1.372	81
15	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1’17.223	1’15.516	1’37.388	1.389	76
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’17.152	1’15.526	1’35.213	1.399	74
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1’16.322	1’15.567	1’36.261	1.440	97
18	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’16.308	1’16.171	1’35.761	2.044	75
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’16.426	No time	1’35.016	2.299	45
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’17.241	1’16.509	1’38.394	2.382	70

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2022 Canadian Grand Prix

• Alfa Romeo see “great future in F1” for Zhou after best result so far
• Ocon has “big hopes” for Alpine’s Silverstone upgrade package
• Hamilton’s Canada podium especially satisfying after run of “bad luck” – Wolff
• Verstappen urges Red Bull to find more pace after close win in Canada
• More confident Sainz is now a contender for wins – Binotto

Browse all 2022 Canadian Grand Prix articles