Verstappen teaches masterclass to take pole at rainy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve; Alonso pips Sainz for a brilliant P2, rest of grid mixed due to Leclercmengine penalties, Perez crash

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once again showed his brilliance in wet conditions, seizing pole position during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix at a cold and rainy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. With unseasonably cool conditions complicating the drivers’s efforts to get their tires up to temperature on a drenched track, it was Verstappen who mastered that task, utilizing his Intermediate wet Pirelli tires to set the fastest lap as time ran out in Q3 with just the start of a dry line beginning to form. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz crossed the line just behind the superlative Dutch points leader but had a lurid squirm in his Ferrari that probably cost the Spaniard P2 on the grid, because, right on his tail, the Alpine’s Fernando Alonso had hooked up a beauty of a wet weather lap. The savvy veteran relegated his countryman Sainz to P3 and will start alongside Verstappen on the front row after that terrific, morale boosting P2 effort for team Alpine. However, Verstappen and Sainz’s usually elite teammates will have a lot more work to do come race day. Leclerc and the Ferrari brain trust decided to upgrade many aspects of the Monegasque’s problematic power unit, thereby incurring a slew of engine penalties and forcing Leclerc to start the race from the rear. Perez’s problems were of his own making, as the Mexican ace binned his Red Bull on the slippy circuit in Q2 and couldn’t extract himself from the barriers. That brought out a Red Flag and disqualified Perez, who is the closest to Verstappen in the Drivers’ Standings, from further participation. Unable to improve his time or make it out of Q2, Perez will start in the unenviable position of P13 tomorrow.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton also showed his skill by setting the fourth fastest Q3 time at a circuit where he has traditionally dominated but started the day with only modest hopes for success with this year’s problematic, porpoising Silver Arrows chassis. However, Sunday’s conditions are forecast to be completely dry and Hamilton’s Merc still seemed to be violently bouncing down the straights even with today’s reduced wet weather speeds. So, it remains to be seen if Hamilton, whose back is already ailing from all that viscous oscillation, can grit his teeth and get his car to perform as well in the dry as it did in the wet. Hamilton’s junior teammate George Russell gambled and lost by becoming the only driver to try slick tires on the day. The young Englishman lost control in the puddles, slid into the barriers rear first and had to settle for P8. Team Haas gave an excellent effort under these equalizing weather conditions, with Kevin Magnussen able to qualify P5 and Mick Schumacher, who badly needs a solid race result, taking P6 on the grid.

The second Alpine of Esteban Ocon was good enough for P7, combining with Alonso’s stellar effort to make it an excellent day for the team. Daniel Ricciardo pulled his McLaren up to P9, though teammate Lando Norris was knocked out in Q2 after engine trouble. And Alpha Romeo rookie Zho Guanyou had his best quali effort of the season in P10, bettering his veteran stablemate Valtteri Bottas (P11) for the first time this year.

Qualifying Results for the Canadian GP:

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 2PM Eastern on ABC here in the States. With the weather predicted to do a complete 180 it should be very interesting to see how the teams cope with dry conditions after optimizing their rides for the wet. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!