Canada qualifying CHAOS sees Perez hit horrific hat-trick as Haas driver starts on FRONT ROW

Verstappen in regen in Montreal — Photo: © LAT Images

Canadian Grand Prix

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Canada qualifying CHAOS sees Perez hit horrific hat-trick as Haas driver starts on FRONT ROW

The Mexican driver was knocked out before Q3 for the third time in a row as his team-mate took pole

Chris Deeley

Saturday 17 June 2023 23:30 Updated: 01:12

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Max Verstappen braved the Canadian rain to take an imperious pole in Montreal on Saturday, leading the field in a chaotic hour and a quarter of qualifying. However, the bigger stories were behind him.

The final shootout was red flagged – an astonishing sixth of the weekend – with seven minutes to go, with Haas' Nico Hulkenberg on the front row from Fernando Alonso as the weather worsened.

That red flag was as a result of Oscar Piastri backing his car into the wall in the increasing rain, and stopped Alonso from finishing a lap which would have put him on the front row ahead of Hulkenberg.

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Both Mercedes drivers made it through to Q3, putting their Silver Arrows fourth and fifth on the grid (with Hamilton ahead of Russell) despite making a point of dampening expectations throughout the weekend.

The only other team with both drivers in the top 10 were McLaren, a big boost for the Woking team despite a tricky final session which saw Piastri in the wall and Norris held up by that accident.

Drivers suffer in rain

A wild session saw rain falling at various intervals, with drivers swapping between intermediate and slick soft tyres, with a Ferrari and a Red Bull falling before Q3 for the second race in a row.

Leclerc and Perez both fell in Q2, but Alpine's Pierre Gasly could – indirectly – drag the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz down the grid after the Spaniard held him up massively on a lap before the end of Q1, leading to the Frenchman's elimination.

That first session was also affected by the weekend's fifth red flag when Yuki Tsunoda was forced to pull over to the side of the road by a mechanical issue.

Tsunoda was able to recover and set a better time, but failed to make it out of the first session, qualifying 16th.