Max Verstappen takes supreme pole as Fernando Alonso stars in wet weather drama

Verstappen, Red Bull, Canada, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

Canadian Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen takes supreme pole as Fernando Alonso stars in wet weather drama

The rain wreaked havoc on Canadian Grand Prix qualifying

Ewan Gale

Saturday 18 June 2022 23:17 Updated: 02:13

Max Verstappen dominated a wet Canadian Grand Prix qualifying to take pole at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The reigning F1 world champion took full advantage of rival Charles Leclerc's back-of-the-grid penalty, setting the pace with a lap time of a one minute, 21.299.

Fernando Alonso stunned the pack with the second-fastest time, the two-time champion six-tenths adrift of Verstappen for Alpine.

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Ferrari's main hopes lie with Carlos Sainz but the Spaniard was only able to finish third after getting trigger-happy with the throttle in the final chicane.

But Sergio Perez crashed out of qualifying in Q2 and has left team-mate Verstappen alone to fend off the Alonso-Sainz challenge alone.

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth despite Mercedes' persistent bouncing issues, ahead of the impressive Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher.

Esteban Ocon finished seventh, whilst George Russell - who gambled with a set of softs at the end of the session - finished eighth.

The Mercedes driver went for the jugular but his cold tyres were unable to find sufficient grip into the first two corners and sent the Mercedes into a spin.

Daniel Ricciardo rounded the session out in ninth ahead of Guanyu Zhou, who experienced his finest Saturday in F1 to date for Alfa Romeo.

Perez and Norris find trouble

A swap to inters greeted the drivers in Q2 but the treacherous track conditions began to catch some victims.

Alex Albon went straight on and nudged the Tecpro barriers at turn six but was able to reverse out and continue.

But Perez was not as fortunate, snatching the inside front at turn three and arrived at the barriers with a hefty hit. The Red Bull was unable to find reverse and was forced out of the session, triggering the first red flag and qualifying 13th on the grid.

A dry line began to emerge in the closing stages with times constantly quickening up but Lando Norris was hampered by a power unit issue, unable to set a time and settling for only 14th on the grid.

Valtteri Bottas was knocked out with the very last lap of the session by Ocon, with Albon 12th.

Leclerc opted not to venture out of his garage and will line up ahead of Yuki Tsunoda at the back of the grid.

Vettel and Gasly suffer shock Q1 exits

Final practice saw Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel occupy second and third fastest on the timesheets and with conditions remaining wet for qualifying, both drivers were touted for a strong Q3 challenge.

Yet when crunch time came at the end of the session, with the track drying and times tumbling, neither driver was able to switch on the extreme wet tyres for one final improvement.

Vettel was unhappy with the exit, saying on team radio: "I mean what was that? So different to this morning.

"So different. I had no grip, felt like the rear left was broken."

Gasly ended the session 16th fastest ahead of Vettel, the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and fellow Canadian Nicholas Latifi.

Tsunoda only did limited running given his back-of-the-grid penalty for the race.