Hulkenberg joins Verstappen on the front row after wet Canada GP qualifying

Max Verstappen secured pole position, in a dramatic qualifying session, ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix and the reigning world champion will be joined by Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg on the front row.

Q1

After the earlier rainfall, at the end of the final practice session, the track remained damp when qualifying commenced and many drivers filtered out onto the circuit. However, the red flag was quickly brought out.

The stoppage was a result of Alfa Romeo’s Gunayu Zhou who had stopped out on track with mechanical problems. Zhou claimed he had lost power with his C43 challenger and brought his car to a stop on the exit of turn six – just as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso slipped through on his first flying lap.

Aston Martin’s Spaniard quickly abandoned the lap after he passed Zhou’s stationary car.

Fortunately, the Chinese Alfa Romeo driver was able to bring the car back to the pit lane to continue on with Qualifying. At the time of the red flag, only three drivers had completed a lap as Williams’ Logan Sargeant topped the timing boards ahead of, teammate, Alexander Albon and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

When qualifying resumed, Verstappen – in the usual fashion – topped the timing sheets by three seconds over Sargeant’s time. However, he was soon pipped to the post by Alonso who put in a 1:22.6 lap. Verstappen quickly retaliated with a lap that was six-tenths quicker.

Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was under investigation, which is expected to be checked over after the session, as he was suspected to have impeded Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc who was on a fast lap.

As the clock ticked down into the final seconds, there was a car park in the final chicane which forced Alpine’s Pierre Gasly to take evasive action to avoid a collision. As per final practice, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had parked his car in the middle of the final chicane – as Tsunoda slipped by the Spaniard to start his final flying lap – just as Gasly throttled his car down the back straight to finish off his fast lap.

However, as the Frenchman pulled off the circuit and exceeded track limits, Gasly’s lap did not count and thus the first Alpine driver was eliminated.

Race control stated they were going to investigate the incident after the session.

Eliminated: 

20. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo

19. Logan Sargeant, Williams

18. Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri

17. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

16. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

Q2

Verstappen was the first driver out on track when the pit exit light went green, still on the intermediate tyres. However, while the bulk of the drivers opted for the intermediates, Williams’ Alexander Albon took the gamble and went out onto the circuit with the slick, soft tyres.

A number of drivers, after their banker laps, pitted for their own sets of soft tyres such as Verstappen. As a result of the gamble, Albon began to set the fastest laps of Q2 as McLaren’s Lando Norris went third fastest – on the soft tyres.

Rain was expected to get heavier as the session continued. In turn, track conditions began to cross over back towards the intermediate tyres.

As a result, the last of the slick tyre runners began to lose their opportunity to progress into the shoot-out for pole. Such drivers who were caught out being the change of conditions were Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who finished P11 and P12 respectively.

Despite their best efforts, as they threw caution to the wind, the slick tyre was no longer the optimal tyre to be on and both drivers were eliminated.

Another impeding incident was sent to the stewards for investigation, between Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. The last Alpine driver was on a quick lap as Stroll

Eliminated:

15. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

14. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

13. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

12. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

11. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Q3

Two minutes remained on the clock before the pit exit light was due to go green, Verstappen was one of the first drivers in a bid to get the best track condition. This came as the rain continued to fall, and it was expected to get worse as the session grew closer to its conclusion.

Naturally, as the first driver out on the track, Verstappen was the first car to set a lap time on the board and set the benchmark to beat: a 1:27.059.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was seen stopped out on track after the young Australian had collided with the barrier on the exit of turn eight – McLaren’s rookie was okay and out of the car. Replays showed that the McLaren snapped with oversteer but as the young Australian attempted to correct his snap, the car overcorrected and slipped back into the barrier.

Due to the stranded McLaren, in deteriorating conditions, race control opted to deploy the red flag.

Just before the red flag was thrown, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg found himself on the front row in second place as the German driver found lap time in the damp conditions.

When the session resumed, conditions worsened to the point no one was able to improve their best lap times and many drivers returned to the pits to end their qualifying session. Ultimately, this set the grid for the Grand Prix with a handful of minutes to go.

Top 10:

10. Alexander Albon, Williams

9. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

8. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

7. Lando Norris, McLaren

6. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

5. George Russell, Mercedes

4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

3. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

2. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

That’s all for the article: Hulkenberg joins Verstappen on the front row after wet Canada GP qualifying!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Verstappen untouchable in soaked F1 final practice of Canada GP
• Bottas quickest in Canada GP FP1 as CCTV problems cut session short
• James Key to join Alfa Romeo F1 as Technical Director
• Spanish GP: Verstappen dominates race to secure 40th F1 win
• Gasly slapped with six-place grid drop for Spanish GP
• Spanish GP: Verstappen on pole as Gasly and Russell go to stewards

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