Max Verstappen may have pulled out a lap to match the best Mercedes could offer when it counted – but he doesn’t believe he could have reached their quickest time of the weekend.
George Russell claimed pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix with a lap of 1’12.000. Verstappen equalled that with his final run.But while that was Red Bull’s quickest time of the weekend, both Mercedes drivers had already gone faster. Russell led Q2 with a 1’11.742 while Hamilton produced a 1’11.979. For both drivers these were the best laps and the best three sector times they produced, and neither got within a quarter of a second of them when the conditions shifted in Q3.
“Being on the exact same lap time is great, but in hindsight, I think when you look at their pure pace, I’ll take second,” said Verstappen after qualifying. “After Q2 I saw their lap times and I was like ‘there is no way that I can do something like that’.”
Mercedes looked like they had the speed to join the fight for pole position throughout the weekend. McLaren were in the fight too and locked out the second row. But the surprise of the session was Ferrari, who failed to get either of their cars into Q3.
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | George Russell | 20.057 (2) | 22.714 (2) | 28.971 (1) | 1’11.742 |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 19.987 (1) | 22.902 (6) | 29.09 (3) | 1’11.979 (+0.021) |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 20.121 (5) | 22.642 (1) | 29.216 (10) | 1’11.979 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 20.155 (7) | 22.792 (4) | 29.056 (2) | 1’12.003 (+0.100) |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | 20.149 (6) | 22.776 (3) | 29.096 (4) | 1’12.021 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 20.115 (4) | 22.932 (7) | 29.131 (6) | 1’12.178 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 20.108 (3) | 22.972 (11) | 29.148 (7) | 1’12.228 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | 20.234 (8) | 22.88 (5) | 29.126 (5) | 1’12.240 (+0.063) |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 20.258 (11) | 22.963 (8) | 29.21 (9) | 1’12.431 (+0.228) |
| 10 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 20.249 (10) | 23.037 (13) | 29.159 (8) | 1’12.445 (+0.246) |
| 11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 20.239 (9) | 22.967 (10) | 29.279 (12) | 1’12.485 |
| 12 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | 20.368 (12) | 22.99 (12) | 29.267 (11) | 1’12.625 (+0.111) |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 20.377 (13) | 22.965 (9) | 29.386 (16) | 1’12.728 |
| 14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | 20.431 (14) | 23.164 (15) | 29.321 (13) | 1’12.916 |
| 15 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 20.445 (15) | 23.1 (14) | 29.395 (17) | 1’12.940 |
| 16 | 11 | Sergio Perez | 20.678 (18) | 23.3 (17) | 29.348 (14) | 1’13.326 |
| 17 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 20.674 (17) | 23.231 (16) | 29.436 (18) | 1’13.341 (+0.094) |
| 18 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 20.605 (16) | 23.377 (18) | 29.384 (15) | 1’13.366 |
| 19 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 20.713 (19) | 23.428 (19) | 29.594 (19) | 1’13.735 (+0.243) |
| 20 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | 20.934 (20) | 23.588 (20) | 29.77 (20) | 1’14.292 |
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Charles Leclerc clearly had the pace to do so but was unimpressed at being left out on used tyres in Q2. As a result the pole-winners of the last race found themselves out-qualified not only by both RBs but even one of Williams’ drivers:
On the resurfaced Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where some of the track boundaries have been eased, almost every team lapped more than a second quicker than they managed last year. The exception was Sauber.
For the fourth weekend in a row the C44s were the slowest cars in the field. The team has assumed the position Alpine were in at the beginning of the year, but have averaged even further off the pace. Clearly something has gone wrong with their development programme.
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The new track surface, plus a year of car development have resulted in lap times which are almost a second and a half quicker than last year. Only Sauber and Ferrari gained less time than that.
However the teams need to find almost as much time again to rival the fastest ever lap seen on this configuration of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which was set five years ago.
F1 will only visit the track once more before overhauling its technical regulations, details of which were revealed this week. They are expected to produce much slower cars, so Sebastian Vettel’s 2019 record may stand for a while longer.
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2024 Canadian Grand Prix
- “He needs to be more careful”: Unheard radio messages from the Canadian Grand Prix
- Marko contradicts stewards’ reason for Red Bull and Perez penalties
- Only one F1 championship looks like a worthwhile fight in 2024
- Red Bull can fix kerb-riding without losing RB20’s major strengths – Verstappen
- Mercedes suspect Montreal track layout ‘made us look quicker’
David
9th June 2024, 20:52
“Mercedes too fast”
LOL
MacLeod (@macleod)
10th June 2024, 7:48
Mercedes had a narrow working windows so when it because cooler and more windy they couldn’t improve (and more teams had that problem while Red Bull or Max could)