MONTREAL, June 18 — Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix after heavy rain shook up qualifying today.
It was an unpredictable and wild afternoon of racing at a rain-swept Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as teams rolled the dice switching from rain tyres to slicks as track conditions changed.
The gamble, and a bit of luck, paid off for Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg who placed his Haas alongside the Dutchman on the front row with Fernando Alonso third fastest for Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton, a seven-times winner in Canada, will line up fourth with his Mercedes team mate George Russell fifth.
The pole, in a time of one minute and 25.858 seconds, was the 25th of Verstappen’s career.
“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,” Verstappen said. “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.”
Verstappen started from pole last year and held off Ferrari’s hard-charging Carlos Sainz for his 26th career win.
Fast forward one year and Verstappen with another victory on Sunday can bring his career total to 41, matching Brazilian Ayrton Senna’s haul.
Red Bull have dominated this season winning all seven races, Verstappen taking five to open up a 53 point gap at the top of the driver standings ahead of team mate Sergio Perez, who has won the other two.
Not Perfect
But it was far from a perfect day for Red Bull as Perez’s problems continued to mount, failing for the third consecutive race to make it out of Q2 and he will start well down the grid in 12th.
Despite sitting second in the standings, Perez has not made the podium in his last two race and has been told by team principal Christian Horner to stop focusing on the championship and just drive.
While the circuit dried out in the first qualifying session, rain returned in the second catching out several teams with Perez, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll all failing to advance while Williams Alex Albon was top of the time sheet.
There was no guessing on tyre choice for Q3 as heavy rain drenched the island circuit, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri spinning and slamming backwards into the wall to bring out the red flags.
It was perfect timing for Hulkenberg who had just completed his flying lap before the session was called to secure Haas’s best ever grand prix start position.
“It was a wild qualy, crazy,” smiled Hulkenberg. “Changing conditions are tricky, especially around here.
“Wet, dry and back to wet, you have to readjust all the time.
“First row is nice, let’s see how long we can keep that.
“A dry race will be very different. I just want to go out there, race as hard as I can and hopefully get a nice result.”
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly provided the early shock when the furious Frenchman failed to make it out of first qualifying after accusing Sainz of blocking him.
Sainz qualified eighth but it was a day of problems for the Spaniard, who crashed his Ferrari in the morning practice, ripping the nose off the car before he faced disciplinary action for impeding. — Reuters
