Adrian R. Huber
Madrid (EFE) ) will face the eighth race of the year from the second position, after the penalty of losing three places for the German Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), announced hours after the conclusion of qualifying.
Verstappen, 25, signed his twenty-fifth ‘pole’ in F1 – the fifth of the year – by dominating a very difficult qualifying, marked by rain and variable conditions, in which he covered the 4,361 meters of the race with an intermediate tire. Montreal track in one minute, 25 seconds and 858 thousandths, one second and 244 thousandths less than the surprising Hülkenberg -later penalized for irregularities during the red flag period-; and with a second and 428 thousandths of an advantage over Alonso: third in the World Cup, 71 points behind ‘Mad Max’.
The Mexican Sergio Pérez -second in the championship, 53 points behind his teammate-, who was eliminated in the second round of qualifying, will start twelfth in Canada; where the other Spaniard, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) -accidented in the last free practice-, finished eighth in the main timed session, but will start eleventh after also losing three places on the grid, since during Q1 he hindered the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) .
Attentive to the failures of “Mad Max”
Alonso accepted Verstappen’s invitation again; and after accepting third place in the qualifying, which became second, he will try to be the protagonist -or, if possible, spoil him- in a new party that the young Dutch star intends to organize in Montreal.
With Hülkenberg -who, in any case, was out of position- struck down, the Asturian genius -in a second youth, a month away from turning 42- will have to be attentive to any failure of ‘Mad Max’ to try to score his long-awaited victory ’33’, at the same time that he will have to be very aware of defending himself against the revived Mercedes.
Fernando starts from the front row next to the new sporting idol from the Netherlands.
But just behind him, in the second, will start the Mercedes of the English Lewis Hamilton -seven times world champion and the true ‘record man’ of the category- and George Russell. In a race that, after two days marked by rain, on paper will be held dry.
Verstappen, also leader in free practice
The day began in the same way that Friday closed. That is, with rain, in the last rehearsal; although not as much as the one that fell during the end of the second free practice: the only one that was worth it, after barely five minutes were filmed in the first, due to a failure in the security cameras.
The Mercedes – with Hamilton ahead of Russell – had commanded on Friday; ahead of Sainz and Alonso, fourth in the time table; in which ‘Checo’ registered eighth.
But that was already part of the past. And Verstappen, was placed again in the position that he likes the most. In the last training session and in qualifying.
Most started out on extreme wet tyres, but after the first fifteen minutes, everyone was on the intermediates.
In a final training session that, with the forecasts pointing to a dry race, only served to prepare the subsequent qualifying in a complicated way.
Just after setting the second provisional time -behind Verstappen-, Sainz lost control of his Ferrari in the first of the fourteen corners of Gilles Villeneuve.
Sainz mishap
On a track, obviously, quite slippery, in which not a few took the occasional walk; but in which the man from Madrid, who would not return to the track in the last free practice, not only starred in the main mishap-he lost his front wing and touched his new gearbox-; but it caused, with half an hour to go, an interruption, with a red flag, of about eight minutes.
Sainz was only able to ride for half an hour and registered third in the time table of a session after which, in addition, he had to give explanations to the commissioners -without further ado- for having allegedly bothered the Thai Alex Albon (Williams) -tenth in the ‘cuali’- before the last ‘chicane’. The one that ends at the famous ‘wall of champions’.
Verstappen was the fastest, with almost three tenths over the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who rides with a helmet in tribute to Gilles Villeneuve, who died in an accident during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, in Zolder; and in whose honor the Montreal circuit was named. Where this Sunday the contenders will meet three DRS zones.
Alonso, second and three tenths behind, had finished third in the last test; in which ‘Checo’ was seventeenth, two seconds and seven tenths behind ‘Mad Max’, who had just scored his fifth victory of the year in Barcelona with a ‘Grand Slam’ -starting from pole position, leading from start to finish end; and setting the fastest lap in the race – with which he officially presented his candidacy for a third title in a row.
tire change
Gasly was eliminated in the first round of qualifying, interrupted for a few minutes due to the breakdown suffered by the Alfa Romeo of Chinese Guanyu Zhou, who also did not advance round; and that they all faced, again, with intermediates.
However, the Frenchman had been in the way, on his last lap launched, and just before the last ‘chicane’, Sainz; that he ended up suspended and will start eleventh, just behind his teammate from the Costa Azul, eliminated in Q2; that he had finished the day in eleventh place and that, thanks to the sanction of the Spaniard, he comes out tenth.
In that round – in which the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) had a good scare, who spun after the fifth corner, miraculously avoiding a good hit – some started using the dry, soft tires, at the beginning; in a timed race that evolved under mixed conditions and in which it began to drip again, waiting for more consistent rain; with the question of whether or not the times could be improved.
They all went to intermissions with just over two minutes to go. But it was already late; and both Leclerc and ‘Checo’ were eliminated: just like Alonso’s new teammate.
The track, which -unlike Q1, in which it improved- was getting worse throughout the second round, continued with that trend in the decisive act, which everyone faced with intermissions.
again the rain
Verstappen, once again the smartest, was the first to jump into the ring, setting what seemed to be the pattern but it ended up being pole time in his second timed lap (1:25.858). A turn that improved Hülkenberg by 1.2 seconds, possibly the happiest of all, before learning of the penalty that relegated him to fifth place; and in 1.4 the brilliant Asturian pilot.
The Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), by far the best rookie of the season, celebrated a new qualification for Q3.
But at seven minutes and eleven seconds he crashed, causing an interruption, with a red flag, of the session. Inadvertently preventing Alonso -who at that time was a few meters from completing a better lap than the previous one- from starting from the front row.
Uncertainty returned, due to variable conditions.
But it did not stop raining and, as he himself predicted before returning to the track, the times no longer changed; Therefore, Alonso -once Hülkenberg has been sanctioned- will try to storm Verstappen’s throne from second place in this Sunday’s race: scheduled for 70 laps, to complete a 305.2-kilometre route.