Neither the rain, nor the cold, nor the wind nor the other 19 drivers on the grid could erode the dominance of Max Verstappen at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, who achieved pole position at the Canadian GP, ??the fifth of the season and the 25th of his career, with virtually no opposition. The first of the earthlings, more than a second behind Mad Max, was a Nico Hülkenberg who took advantage of the changing track conditions to hunt a surprising second place, just ahead of Fernando Alonso.
The Aston Martin featured new aerodynamics at the rear, with changes to the sidepods, the floor and the engine cover, but the Spaniard has hardly yet thoroughly tested the new parts, due to the rain and technical problems. “Sometimes this sport shoots itself in the foot,” the Oviedo critic criticized the cancellation of the first free practice due to a failure in the security cameras. The race is expected to be dry, quite the opposite of a fight for pole position that has been wet.
In the third free practice, before qualifying, the rain broke in for the first time and Carlos Sainz was the worst unemployed. The Spaniard lost control of his Ferrari, which ended up against the wall, not that of the champions. The track, at the time flooded, improved at the start of Q1.
The sky gave a truce, which decided the pilots to mount the intermediate tire first. During Q1 the pilots negotiated the curves between dry areas and others bathed in water. Hamilton, Pérez and Leclerc were spit out of the track at some angles. Quite the opposite of a solid Verstappen, already the fastest in the first session ahead of Alonso. Gasly was one of those who missed the cut, partly because Sainz blocked him as he made his last attempt. The man from Madrid is exposed to a sanction of several positions.
Q2 began with everyone looking at a radar that warned of rain. The pilots rushed to do their best lap before the clouds passed sentence. Albon, the first to take a risk on a dry tyre, saved the situation. They copied the strategy in time Verstappen and Alonso, but other favorites like Leclerc and Pérez were hunted by the water with the intermediate tires and were left out.
The last challenge took place entirely under heavy rain, making the track more and more complicated. Verstappen, aware that time was playing against him, went out onto the track to finish the job as soon as possible. The Dutchman bordered on disaster in some corners of his first attempt, but on his second lap he pulverized his time. Alonso tried to replicate the championship leader without success. The red flag due to an accident by Piastri and an increasingly wet track ended up sentencing the Red Bull’s first place.
1. Max Verstappen (1:25:858)
2. Nico Hulkenberg ( 1.244)
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. George Russell
6. Esteban Ocon
7. Lando Norris
8. Carlos Sainz
9. Oscar Piastri
10. Alexander Albon
11. Charles Leclerc
12. Sergio Perez
13. Lance Stroll
14. Kevin Magnussen
15. Valtteri Bottas
16. Yuki Tsunoda
17. Pierre Gasly
18. Nyck De Vries
19. Logan Sargeant
20.Guanyu Zhou
