By Robert Haile
It has been a wet race weekend for the Canadian Grand Prix and it didn’t stop as qualifying fizzled out with Max Verstappen sitting in pole position.
The Dutch two time World Champion, Verstappen claimed pole position for Red Bull as Nico Hulkenberg put his Haas on the front row as the rain returned as qualifying was a wash out.
Verstappen said: “In the wet you just have to stay on top of the conditions. 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.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri brought out the red flag early in the top ten shootout and then the rain came down with drivers struggling to set a competitive time the teams stayed in the garage as the timer ran down.
Verstappen took pole with Hulkenberg second, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso third, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton fourth and George Russell fifth.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon took sixth as McLaren’s Landon Norris seventh and Piastri provisional ninth with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in eighth as Williams’ Alex Albon was left in tenth having not set a time.
Alex Albon was the first to move onto the slick tyres as the track continued to dry out after the deluge it put down at the end of free practice.
The British driver topped the timing board as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez starts twelfth and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc eleventh.
Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin in thirteenth, Kevin Magnussen’s Haas will start fourteenth and Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo sits in fifteenth.
The rain came down in the final minutes of second qualifying session
An early red flag was brought out by Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo as it ground to a halt before crawling back to the pits.
Guanyu will start from twentieth after the issue with the Alfa Romeo with Logan Sargeant’s Williams joining him on the back row in nineteenth.
Both AlphaTauri drivers went out with Nyck de Vries in eighteenth and Yuki Tsunoda in sixteenth with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly splitting the pair in seventeenth.
The Canadian Grand Prix race starts at 7pm (19:00) in the UK.
Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Vallteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
- Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri)
- Logan Sargeant (Williams)
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
THE HERDWICK NEWS 