Rain-Soaked Canadian GP Quali Mixes Up the Grid With Big Names Failing To Reach Q3

And that's all thanks to a series of events spanning from Q1 to Q3, which caused some surprise knock-outs in the early sessions. The first qualifying round saw a train of cars form for a flying lap shootout to improve their times. But a crowded track is a hazardous one to manage when pushing to the limits, something that Pierre Gasly learned the hard way when his lap was impeded by Carlos Sainz, causing him to get knocked out in Q1.

With a surprise elimination already in the bag, the second session started in relatively decent conditions. Williams sent Alexander Albon out on soft compound tires, which led him to set a time of 1:19:471. His lap would prove impossible to beat as a light bout of rain started hitting the track and forcing everyone else on intermediate tires.

However, the light shower passed quickly, meaning other teams could put on softs and challenge the provisional pole time. But there wasn't enough time for the track to dry, and the changing conditions caught some contenders off-guard.

And among those who did not make the right decision in this session were a couple of big names, chief among which was Sergio Perez. Even with tricky conditions hindering him, there's little excuse for the Red Bull driver to miss out on Q3, as the RB19 is the fastest car on the grid.

Charles Leclerc is another driver who failed to make it out of Q2, as Ferrari once again pulled a textbook mistake, forcing the Monegasque to set his time on inters when everybody had switched to softs. The final surprise was offered by Lance Stroll, who was also eliminated in the second session, taking P13 while setting a time that was almost a second slower than Leclerc, who took P11.

Granted, all of these drivers set their times on intermediate tires. But then again, so did Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' George Russell, who did make it into Q3. And the performance delivered by Alonso is one that further casts a shadow of doubt over Stroll's abilities following a string of questionable performances in what's effectively the second-best car.

This moves us to the last session, which was equally chaotic and filled with surprises. As Verstappen took to the track and set the time to beat, the rest of the grid followed. And in a push to the limit to secure a good starting place, Oscar Piastri put his McLaren into the barriers, bringing out a red flag. However, as that happened, Nico Hulkenberg delivered a stellar lap to put his Haas in P2. But that was a position he would not keep, as a three-place grid penalty was issued to the Haas driver for failing to comply with the red flag.

And with rain intensifying, there was no improvement to be found by the rest of the grid once the session had resumed. The final qualifying results for this year's Formula 1 Canadian GP saw Verstappen take pole position, with Alonso joining him on the front row, similar to the 2022 Canadian GP. Up next were the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell, followed by Nico Hulkenberg, who rounded up the top five. Then came Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri, and Alexander Albon, who could not replicate his unexpected provisional pole from Q2.