18 minutes of action for Q1 was under way at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with all 20 cars making their way out onto track immediately. With plenty of standing water on the track, it was wet tyres for everyone to begin with.
George Russell was on the top of the leaderboard after the first bunch of flying laps, as the Mercedes driver did a 1:36.688. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton went second – 0.2s slower. Max Verstappen briefly went fastest, before being replaced by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. However, George Russell hit back to regain top spot with a 1:34.989. The Brit appeared to be thriving in these challenging conditions.
There appeared to be some quite significant improvement to track conditions from lap to lap, as the leading time was almost constantly changing. Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas both had a few moments at the top of the timesheet, but it’s Max Verstappen who led Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc, who knew he will start from the back row of the grid regardless of the result in this qualifying session, was out there setting times. It’s the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz that sat at top of the timesheet with just a few moments until the end of Q1, but there was so much movement on the timesheet that most of the cars behind him were not safe. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) were out in Q1.
In the closing stages of Q1, Carlos Sainz went off track, and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon appears to think the Spaniard made an unsafe return to the action. The Ferrari driver could face an investigation for that incident.
Intermediates was still the popular tyre choice as cars head back out on track for another 15 minutes of qualifying. Alonso currently sits at the top of the timesheet from Verstappen and Sainz. Russell was quicker than Hamilton on the first runs from the Mercedes in Q2, while Alex Albon locked up at Turn 6 and went straight into the barrier. Sergio Perez was the next man to go into the barrier and there were concerned looks on the Red Bull pit wall. An early yellow flag therefore turned into a red flag and the Red Bull driver was out of this qualifying session. He lost the grip on his tyres between turns 3 and 4 and after giving the barrier a fair whack, he just can’t get his car out of it again.
With all the drivers now on intermediates, there was constant evolution of the track conditions going on: it was Max Verstappen who went fastest with a 1:27.764. Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez and Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc were out in the second part of qualifying. The Ferrari Monegasque driver, who is starting on the back row, did not even attempt to come out in Q2.
There should be a smile on Guenther Steiner’s face as both of his Haas cars were going well in these conditions. Mick Schumacher went through in sixth +1.938 off Max Verstappen, with Kevin Magnussen squeaking in in ninth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
Q3 is therefore under way. The question was whether we would see slicks come the end of the 12-minute session. Unsurprisingly, it was Max Verstappen who came out on top after the opening runs, as he did a 1:22.701, which was more than a second clear of Carlos Sainz in second. Fernando Alonso went third ahead of George Russell and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. On the second run, Carlos was able to close that gap to the Dutchman: improves to within a little more than 0.2s of the Red Bull, while Fernando Alonso was only a further tenth or so back in third.
A bold move from George Russell: he was the first – and only – driver to strap on slicks today. All of the other drivers in the pits put on new intermediates for their final runs. But for the British driver the gamble didn’t appear to be paying off, as George Russell went off at Turn 2 and had a gentle bump with the barrier.
With a minute to go, Lewis Hamilton went second behind an increasingly quick Max Verstappen. Carlos Sainz tried to build up temperature in the tyres and then push in the last lap, but in the end had to settle for third place on the grid, behind Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso. Carlos Sainz was chasing Verstappen but just got a little ‘trigger happy’ on the exit of the final chicane. It cost him a place on front row as Fernando Alonso stormed through.
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