Weather, Timing and Strategy all played it’s part in a dramatic Canadian GP Qualifying, Perez and LeClerc out in Q1 and a Verstappen pole with Nico Hulkenberg starting in a team best second.
Q1
The first part of quali was delayed after an early red flag due to Zhou’s Alfa Romeo car stopping (but restarting), this left only 14 minutes for 20 drivers to fight for 15 spaces.
The Bottom 5
As usual Formula 1 qualifying is split into 3 parts with the slowest 5 cars dropping out in Q1 and Q2 with the remaining 10 fight for pole.
With the rain deciding not to head to the track, the headache was the drying track. The later the driver started the lap the better chance they had of progressing into Q2.
Unfortunately five drivers were not able make it count, those were:
- Tsunoda
- Gasly
- DeVries
- Sargent
- Zhou
The biggest surprise of the session was the loss of Gasly, however the main hitters all managed to progress into the next session.
Q2
Quali 2 was a much more tricky with the track drying enough for slicks, however the rain returned with 6 minutes left. Alex Albon and Williams judged things perfectly, firing on the slicks at a time that gave him a great lap time. The drivers that seemed to miss judge the conditions were Charles LeClerc, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton. It would seem that the Mexican driver (and Redbull) missing the window that would allow progression into the top ten shootout. This was also mirrored at Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc also dropping out of qualifying.
Knocked out in Q2 were:
- LeClerc
- Perez
- Stroll
- Magnussen
- Bottas
TOP-TEN SHOOTOUT
As the rain continued to fall, the final part of the Canadian GP qualifying returned to Pirelli’s green-walled inters.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri caused only the second red flag of qualifying, and a very costly one for the majority of the field, the McLaren driver lost the rear of his McLaren at turn 6/7, he would hit the outside wall with the rear of the car, damaging the rear right of his car, putting an end to his session.
Nico Hulkenberg and HAAS were the only team to benefit from the interruption, Nico Hulkenberg managed to cross the line seconds before the red-flag putting the HAAS into second. With the rain continuing to fall, no one was able to improve their times, giving us one of the most jumbled up grids for tomorrows race.
TOP-TEN
- Verstappen (POLE)
- Hulkenberg
- Alonso
- Hamilton
- Russell
- Ocon
- Norris
- Sainz
- Piastri
- Albon
With so many cars out of position and a tight first sector, will we see a surprise result tomorrow?