Verstappen on pole, Hulkenberg snatches second in wet Canadian GP qualifying

Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg took second on the grid in a dramatic wet qualifying session.

The Red Bull driver took his fifth pole of the season and third consecutive pole by over a second after getting his best time in early in Q3 as the track conditions deteriorated. Hulkenberg jumped up to second just before a red flag stoppage effectively ended the session, while Fernando Alonso secured third on the grid.

Charles Leclerc was eliminated from Q2 in 11th, with Sergio Perez also failing to reach Q3 in 12th place.

Q1

After the earlier practice session had been run entirely in the wet, drivers headed out on intermediate tyres for the first phase of qualifying as the track was still wet as Q1 got underway.

On his way out of the pit lane, Zhou Guanyu lost drive in his Alfa Romeo, exiting onto the race track at a crawling speed. Zhou attempted to find a solution for his unresponsive power unit, but eventually pulled off-track at the exit of turn seven, bringing out the red flags. Despite stopping, Zhou managed to power cycle his car and breathe life back into it under the red flag and pulled away back onto the circuit and into the pit lane.

With the cause of the red flag having sorted itself, the session soon resumed again with Zhou able to rejoin as if he had nothing to do with the whole affair.

Max Verstappen went quickest of all with a 1’24.106, but was beaten by Fernando Alonso on the Aston Martin driver’s first lap. Verstappen improved on his next lap to move back to the top, before Alonso followed in suit to go quickest again by almost two tenths.

The low-grip conditions caught out many, with Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton all having laps deleted for running off track and missing corners as they struggled to keep their cars on track. Hamilton’s Mercedes team mate George Russell also struggled for grip and fell down to 18th as times gradually improved around the slowly drying track. With just over five minutes remaining, Russell put in a lap good enough to move up to fourth place.

In the closing minutes, the five drivers in the drop zone were Nyck de Vries, Oscar Piastri, Yuki Tsunoda, Logan Sargeant and Zhou slowest but at least circulating. Piastri improved to move up to 13th, which put Pierre Gasly into the danger zone in 16th. He was not there for long, however, as the Alpine driver went up to ninth to drop home driver Lance Stroll at risk in 16th.

Tsunoda pushed Kevin Magnussen into the drop zone, but the Haas driver moved into safety to force Tsunoda back into elimination. Stroll went clear to knock Valtteri Bottas into danger in 16th, but the Alfa Romeo driver secured passage to Q2 with his final effort.

There was a major traffic jam at the final corner involving Carlos Sainz Jnr, Tsunoda and Gasly which forced the Alpine driver to take emergency avoiding action at the final chicane as the Ferrari crawled in the braking zone. Gasly was unable to complete his lap, while Tsunoda was compromised for the start of his final effort. Both would be the first drivers eliminated from Q1, the incensed Gasly letting rip at Sainz on his radio.

Joining Tsunoda and Gasly were De Vries, Sargeant and Zhou, who was unable to do better than last despite recovering out of his session-halting early problem. The stewards confirmed Sainz would be investigated for impeding Gasly, and Tsunoda likewise for getting in Leclerc’s way.

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Q1 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’20.851		12
2	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’21.481	0.630	12
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’21.554	0.703	12
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’21.798	0.947	12
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’21.843	0.992	12
6	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’21.938	1.087	14
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.998	1.147	12
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’22.114	1.263	12
9	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’22.151	1.300	13
10	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’22.190	1.339	12
11	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’22.248	1.397	12
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’22.332	1.481	13
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’22.351	1.500	12
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’22.677	1.826	12
15	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’22.730	1.879	13
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’22.746	1.895	11
17	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’22.886	2.035	11
18	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’23.137	2.286	12
19	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’23.337	2.486	14
20	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’23.342	2.491	11

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Q2

As the second session began, drivers were openly debating whether or not the threshold for switching to slicks was near. Lando Norris lobbied McLaren to move onto dry tyres and they duly obliged him. That led to a rush of cars coming into the pits for slick tyres as the track was beginning to offer adequate grip.

On intermediates, Stroll lost his Aston Martin through turn five, spinning through 360 degrees and nudging the barrier with his nose as he skidded down to turn six. Despite the dramatic spin, he avoided damaging his car and was able to continue on his way.

The superiority of the dry tyres was proven by Alexander Albon, who had been the first to risk them, putting his Williams quickest of all with a 1’18.725, with Verstappen only three tenths slower in second place. While the slick tyres were offering faster lap times, it was now raining again over the circuit, meaning the window to improve was now rapidly closing.

With less than four minutes remaining, Leclerc, Perez and Stroll were all sitting in danger in 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. The worse news for the trio was that it was now raining significantly harder, leaving them with limited opportunity to improve in the closing minutes.

Leclerc and Perez both pitted for intermediates in a desperate hope that they would find enough grip on the worsening circuit to try and find some time. However, the rain was simply robbing the track of grip with every second that passed and when Leclerc slid off at turn six, his fate was sealed.

Leclerc was eliminated in 11th, complaining his “tyres were not ready” after spinning at turn six. Perez was also knocked out in 12th having failed to improve on his intermediates. Stroll could do no better than 13th, with Magnussen and Bottas the final two drivers failing to reach Q3. After his bold early switch to slicks, Albon ended Q2 fastest overall for Williams.

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Q2 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’18.725		19
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’19.092	0.367	21
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’19.347	0.622	21
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’19.659	0.934	21
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’19.776	1.051	20
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’19.856	1.131	20
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’20.098	1.373	20
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’20.305	1.580	20
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’20.406	1.681	20
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’20.426	1.701	21
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’20.615	1.890	22
12	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’20.959	2.234	23
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’21.484	2.759	20
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’21.678	2.953	21
15	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’21.821	3.096	24

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Q3

As the top 10 shoot-out for pole position began the rain was increasing in intensity by the minute, making the early laps all the more critical for drivers’ prospects for pole position. Verstappen was the first driver over the line to start a timed lap and wrestled with his car in the deteriorating conditions to set a 1’27.059.

Alonso went faster than the Red Bull in the middle sector but hit the control line two tenths slower than Verstappen managed. Lando Norris briefly put his McLaren in third before he was demoted by the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell.

Verstappen went even faster on his second timed lap, taking a full second off his own provisional pole time. But Oscar Piastri then brought out the yellow flags after losing control of his McLaren at turn seven and backing his car into the wall.

As Piastri’s car sat stranded and broken, Hulkenberg jumped up to second place in the Haas. Mere seconds later, the session was stopped, the red lights flashing on Hulkenberg’s display as he hit the brakes for turn one. That paused Q3 with seven minutes remaining.

However the rain continued to fall, making the prospects of the track improving in the few minutes unlikely. That did not dissuade the field from lining up at the end of the pit lane moments before Q3 resumed.

When the session eventually resumed, Verstappen immediately reported that the circuit was much wetter than it had been before the red flag, while Russell assessed the conditions as being nearly bad enough for full wet weather tyres. It seemed guaranteed that none of the top 10 would be able to improve their times in the minutes remaining.

That proved the case, with drivers giving up on their hopes of improving on the increasingly wet track and returning to the pits. The remaining minutes ticked down and the chequered flag flew to confirm Verstappen on pole position for the third consecutive race.

Hulkenberg secured Haas’ best grid position since Kevin Magnussen took pole for last year’s sprint race in Brazil with second place. Alonso claimed third ahead of the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. Esteban Ocon qualified sixth ahead of Norris and Sainz, who is under serious threat of being handed an impeding penalty by the stewards after the session. Piastri took ninth despite his crash, while Albon ended the session in tenth after his only timed lap was deleted for running off the track at the final chicane.

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Q3 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’25.858		26
2	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’27.102	1.244	25
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’27.286	1.428	25
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’27.627	1.769	26
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’27.893	2.035	25
6	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’27.945	2.087	25
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’28.046	2.188	26
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’29.294	3.436	26
9	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’31.349	5.491	24
10	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	No time		24

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