Max Verstappen will start on pole for Sunday’s F1 Canadian GP after a wet qualifying session that had Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc make early exits and Nico Hulkenberg lose second place after a post-session grid penalty.
Verstappen will be joined on the front row by Fernando Alonso after Hulkenberg was handed a three-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement.
The Haas driver had managed to complete a lap and better Alonso’s first Q3 effort just before the red flag was thrown out after Oscar Piastri crashed into the barriers. However, Hulkenberg was found to have not slowed down sufficiently when the red flag came out and he was demoted three places to fifth three-and-a-half hours after the session ended.
As rain continued to fall during the seven-minute red flag delay, no driver was able to improve his time in the final minutes of Q3.
“In the wet you just have to stay on top of the conditions,” Verstappen said. “It was super slippery out there in some places, but we just made all the right calls, the right time on the track to do the lap times, and I’m very happy to be on pole here.
“I like driving in the wet. I come from Holland, so we are used to driving in the wet. Let’s see, maybe it’s dry tomorrow and then it can be a bit different, but normally we have a good race car.”
Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will now start third and fourth after Hulkenberg’s penalty, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Lando Norris now lining up behind the Haas.
Carlos Sainz set the eighth fastest time, but the Ferrari driver was later handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly in Q1. Gasly was furious after taking evasive action to avoid Carlos Sainz as he missed out on Q2.
The Alpine driver had to take to the run-off area at the final chicane after narrowly avoiding a high-speed crash as cars backed up at the end of the session.
“Carlos did the worst job possible to stay completely on the racing line,” Gasly told Sky Sports F1.”For me that’s completely unacceptable and unfair. I have no words to explain what happened.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez were absent from the top-10 shootout for the second race in a row after they were unable to make the most of a drying track during Q2. Leclerc will line up 10th, promoted one position by Sainz’s penalty, while Perez will start 12th.
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.