Red Bull driver Max Verstappen set the fastest time on Saturday in a rain-swept qualifying session at the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal. He will start from first place on Sunday on a starting grid where, an extremely rare event in Formula 1, there will be cars from eight different teams among the top 10.
This will be the fifth leading position in eight occasions since the start of the season for the Dutchman and leader in the drivers’ championship. But at his side will be the Haas driver, the German Nico Hulkenberg, who had so far failed to do better than the 7e room for departure.
Then come the regulars at the front of the peloton, that is to say, in order, the Aston Martin driver, the Spaniard Fernando Alonso, and the two Mercedes drivers, the British Lewis Hamilton and George Russell . Then come drivers from Alpine (Estaban Ocon), McLaren (Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri), Ferrari (Carlos Sainz) and even Williams (Alexander Albon), in tenth position.
This unusual starting order is the product of capricious weather that forced the teams and their drivers to constantly adapt to changing conditions when the rain stopped and allowed the track to dry out, before resuming. more beautiful.
“We just made the right decisions, in terms of tires, at the right time,” said modestly Max Verstappen, who outrageously dominates the race for the drivers’ title this year. “I like driving on a wet track,” he added.
A veteran of Formula 1, with 191 grand prix on the clock, Nico Hulkenberg did not hide his pleasure, but had no illusions either about his chances of keeping the drivers of the fastest teams behind him for a long time. ” It was crazy. It was fun. It’s also unexpected. […] It’s nice to be on the front line. We’ll see how long that will last. »
Stroll, Perez, Leclerc…
With many of the favorites having more difficulty on Saturday in the rain and who will start far behind at the start of the race, Sunday’s race could be an opportunity to score valuable points in the race. in the championship, observed Fernando Alonso. But although technical innovations brought by his team in Montreal seem to be giving good results, he does not yet believe he can really threaten Max Verstappen. “We got closer to the Red Bulls, but we are not yet at their level. »
His teammate at Austin Martin, Montrealer Lance Stroll was among those who had a less fortunate hand on Saturday with 13th place. This is also the case for the other Red Bull driver, the Mexican Sergio Perez (11e) and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (11e).
The latter was angry with his team for its slowness to react to changing conditions during qualifying. “We make life so much harder for ourselves. »
Lance Stroll was more philosophical. “We just had the wrong tires at the wrong times. »
The third and final free practice session also took place in the rain early Saturday afternoon. It was a great opportunity to make up for the time lost the day before and refine the settings for qualifying later in the day and Sunday’s race which should not take place in rain, according to the weather forecast.
The teams had had bad luck on Friday during their first laps on the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit on Île Notre-Dame. The first free practice session had barely started when a car breakdown followed by problems with the circuit’s security camera system brought everything to a halt. Extended for the occasion by half an hour, the second practice session had been more productive although, again, marked by all sorts of incidents until the first drops of rain turned into a deluge at the end of session.
Overwhelming dominance of Red Bull
4.4 km long, the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit is characterized by its succession of straight lines at high speed and heavy braking to negotiate tight turns where you have to dare to attack the curbs, but be wary of low walls and lawns. which border the track closely. It is not uncommon for incidents on the track and bad weather to upset the course of races to the point where, until now, 80% of previous editions have required the car to be taken to the track at least once. security to slow down and regroup platoon.
Picking up where it left off last year, Red Bull has crushed the competition since the start of the season, with seven wins from seven races, five of which were won by reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
It’s behind the Red Bulls that the fight has been interesting so far this year, with at least three teams vying for the title of best of the rest.
Second in the constructors’ championship and great rival of Red Bull, the Mercedes team had a slow start, but has been doing much better for some time. Favorites of the crowd, the Ferraris could not do better, so far, than fourth place, behind the Aston Martins.
Ranked seventh out of 10 teams last year, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s team is the big surprise at the start of the season. His new 41-year-old recruit and double world champion, Fernando Alonso, even occupies third place in the drivers’ championship, behind the two men from Red Bull, thanks to five podiums in seven races. Lance Stroll has had less success and is currently ranked eighth.
The starting signal for the race of just over 305 km over 70 laps must be given at 2 p.m. Sunday.