- Fernando starts from the second row next to the Englishman lewis hamilton
- Sainz was only able to ride for half an hour and was third in the time table
the dutch max verstappen (Red Bull), prominent leader of the Formula One World Cup, will start first this Sunday at the Canadian Grand Prix, at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, where the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) will face the eighth race of the year from third position on the grid.
Verstappen, 25, signed his twenty-fifth ‘pole’ in F1 -the fifth of the year- by dominating a very difficult qualification, marked by rain and variable conditions, in which he covered the 4,361 meters of the Montreal track with an intermediate tire in one minute, 25 seconds and 858 thousandths, one second and 244 thousandths less than the surprising German Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), 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 Perez -second in the championship, 53 points behind his teammate-, who was eliminated in the second qualifying round, will start twelfth in Canada; where the other Spaniard, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) -accidented in the last free practice-, he finished eighth in the main time trialbut he is pending an investigation that could make him lose three places on the grid, since during the aforementioned Q2 he could have hindered the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri).
Alonso accepted Verstappen’s invitation again; and after taking third place in the qualifying for granted, she will try to be the protagonist -or, if possible, spoil it- at a new party that the young Dutch star intends to organize in Montreal. With Hülkenberg, in theory, out of position, the Asturian genius -in a second youth, a month away from turning 42- You will have to be aware of any failure of ‘Mad Max’ with a view to scoring his long-awaited victory ’33’, while he will have to be very aware of defending himself against the resurgent Mercedes.
Fernando starts from the second row next to the Englishman lewis hamilton -seven times world champion and the authentic ‘record man’ of the category-, with George Russell, his compatriot and teammate, just behind. In a race that, after two days marked by rain, on paper will be held dry.
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’ was 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 last training that, with forecasts pointing to a dry raceonly served to prepare the subsequent qualification 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. 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, was the main actor in not only the main mishap -lost 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 was 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 ‘quali’- 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 homage 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 the one in which ‘Checo’ was seventeenth, two seconds and seven tenths behind ‘Mad Max’, that he had just scored his fifth victory of the year in Barcelona with a ‘Grand Slam’ -starting from pole position, leading from start to finish; and setting the fastest lap in the race – with which he officially presented his candidacy for a third title in a row.
The Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was eliminated in the first round of qualifying, interrupted for a few minutes due to the breakdown suffered by the Alfa Romeo of the 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, in his last lap launched, and just before the last ‘chicane’ Sainz; that at the time of writing these lines is under investigation and could lose three places on the grid. What would make him start behind his teammate from the Costa Azul, eliminated in Q2 and who finished the day in eleventh place.
In that round – in which the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) had a good scare, who he spun after the fifth turn, 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 partner.
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. 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; and in 1.4 the brilliant Asturian pilot.
the aussie 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 had an accident, 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 didn’t stop raining and, as he himself predicted before returning to the track, the times no longer changed; so Alonso will try to storm Verstappen’s throne in this Sunday’s race: scheduled for 70 laps, to complete a 305.2-kilometre route.