Verstappen quickest, Sainz crashes after rain arrives in final practice

Max Verstappen set the quickest time in a wet final practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, as Carlos Sainz Jnr crashed out of the session.

The championship leader was almost three-tenths of a second quicker than Charles Leclerc. The other Ferrari ended its session early in the turn one barrier. Sainz touched the white line on the approach to the left-hander, spun and crashed into the tyre walls, causing substantial damage to the front and rear of his car ahead of qualifying.

Fernando Alonso was third fastest in the Aston Martin, over a second slower than Verstappen’s best, with Kevin Magnussen fourth for Haas.

A wet circuit greeted drivers as the final hour of qualifying began. Unsurprisingly, there was no big rush out onto the circuit when the green light appeared at the end of the pitlane, with the two Haas drivers the first cars out on full wet weather tyres. Magnussen reported that he believed the wet tyre was the right option for the conditions as more and more cars slowly took to the circuit to test the conditions.

Alonso set the early wet pace with a 1’32.217, but then opted to immediately return to the pits to fit on the intermediate tyres. This looked like a brave call, as Yuki Tsunoda had the full wet tyres on his AlphaTauri but still lost his car on the exit of turn four, spinning through 360 degrees but avoiding hitting the walls.

Verstappen moved to the top of the times on the wet tyres with a 1’29.190, but Leclerc demonstrated how close the crossover point was for intermediate tyres by setting a lap a tenth of a slower than the Red Bull on the green-walled intermediates. Valtteri Bottas then demonstrated intermediates were the fastest tyres to have on, putting his Alfa Romeo fastest, before Alonso improved to go quickest of all by well over a second.

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Tsunoda suffered a second spin within the first 20 minutes of the session, this time at turn two, but again he recovered without suffering any damage. Alexander Albon had to take avoiding action at the chicane due to Sainz’s Ferrari getting in his way one of multiple laps. The stewards will investigate the Ferrari driver after the session.

Times continued to fall gradually as drivers cleared more water from the track surface. Verstappen sat quickest with a 1’24.480, almost three tenths quicker than Sainz, before Sainz lost control of his car on the way into turn one just before the half hour mark and crashed into the outside tyre wall, causing heavy damage to the front and rear of his Ferrari and bringing out the red flag. Sainz climbed out of his crashed car unhurt, but his practice was well over.

After a delay around five minutes, running resumed with the threat of more rain looming. Both Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell quickly took to the track, the former taking a trip over the grass at turn two after locking up under braking for the first corner. The cooler conditions continued to challenge drivers, with Albon, Russell and Zhou Guanyu all running off track at various points on the circuit. Verstappen, however, was going faster and improved on his own session best time to set a 1’23.106. Leclerc came the closest to the Red Bull, but was almost three tenths down.

With 10 minutes remaining, the rain started to increase in intensity. That led to cars steadily abandoning the wet track for the safety of the garage, eventually leaving only Leclerc circulating in the sole remaining Ferrari until he eventually pulled in with just under five minutes to go. No one ventured out in the closing minutes and the chequered flag signalled the end of the session, with Verstappen ending the hour quickest of all.

Leclerc was just under three tenths slower than Verstappen in second, with Alonso third fastest in the Aston Martin. Magnussen ended the hour fourth in the Haas, with Sainz fifth despite crashing. Pierre Gasly was sixth, Lance Stroll seventh, Tsunoda eighth, then Bottas and Hamilton completing the top 10 positions heading into qualifying.

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2023 Canadian Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’23.106		22
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’23.397	0.291	22
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’24.483	1.377	18
4	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’24.715	1.609	23
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’24.765	1.659	14
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’24.825	1.719	19
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’24.944	1.838	22
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’24.955	1.849	24
9	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’24.988	1.882	22
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’25.087	1.981	20
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’25.140	2.034	20
12	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’25.191	2.085	25
13	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’25.198	2.092	21
14	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’25.379	2.273	21
15	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’25.435	2.329	20
16	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’25.725	2.619	24
17	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’25.857	2.751	20
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’26.750	3.644	23
19	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’26.840	3.734	10
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’27.279	4.173	16

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2023 Canadian Grand Prix combined practice times

Position	Number	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	No time	1’13.718	1’25.087		1
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	No time	1’13.745	1’25.435	0.027	2
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’25.991	1’13.844	1’24.765	0.126	3
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’19.807	1’14.044	1’24.483	0.326	4
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’26.809	1’14.094	1’23.397	0.376	5
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’20.231	1’14.142	1’23.106	0.424	6
7	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’18.728	1’14.220	1’24.988	0.502	7
8	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’20.154	1’14.250	1’25.857	0.532	8
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’19.175	1’14.419	1’24.944	0.701	9
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	No time	1’14.477	1’24.825	0.759	10
11	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’21.496	1’14.533	1’25.191	0.815	11
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’24.045	1’14.544	1’24.715	0.826	12
13	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	No time	1’14.617	1’25.198	0.899	13
14	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’24.961	1’14.811	1’26.750	1.093	14
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	No time	1’14.941	1’24.955	1.223	15
16	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	1’32.274	1’15.002	1’25.725	1.284	16
17	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	No time	1’15.003	1’25.379	1.285	17
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	No time	1’15.092	1’26.840	1.374	18
19	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	No time	1’15.426	1’27.279	1.708	19
20	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’24.336	1’16.369	1’25.140	2.651	20

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2023 Canadian Grand Prix

• Norris ‘even more’ sure Canada penalty was wrong after review request fails
• McLaren seeking more than just downforce gains from major upgrade
• Winning more races won’t necessarily lead to F1 seat – Palou
• Red Bull’s testing restriction will “massively affect” 2024 car development
• Schumacher’s set-up input gives Mercedes a “super advantage” – Wolff

Browse all 2023 Canadian Grand Prix articles