Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 17, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo: Clive Mason | Getty Images)
MONTREAL – Even though the next full moon is still close to 2 weeks away, the track activity during the practice and qualifying sessions at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for Friday and Saturday made it seem that way. From technological issues on Friday to another weekend for Formula 1 affected by rain on Saturday, it was anything but ordinary.
An abridged Free Practice 1 opened the weekend, but it wasn’t due to a significant accident or rain. The Closed Circuit TV local to the track randomly stopped working. So while some times were set, teams were not able to fully stretch their legs as the lack of CCTV meant the track couldn’t be completely watched with cameras ending the session early.
The Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas set the pace of the 12 drivers who were able to set a time with the short amount of time the field was able to set times in FP1 before Alpine’s Pierre Gasly came to a halt on track bringing out the red flag. However, it was during that cleanup that the CCTV system failed and the session was put into an indefinite red flag.
Due to the loss of most of the time from FP1, the FIA announced that Free Practice 2 would be extended an extra 30 minutes. In a weekend of major upgrades hitting the track, the extra practice time gave more of a chance for teams to stretch their legs. The timing charts at the end of the session were a bit of a throwback to 5 years ago with the Mercedes duo topping the charts.
Lewis Hamilton led his teammate George Russell to a 1-2 session finish providing hope the change in concept for the Mercedes team has turned things around. Following them came the Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc split by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The man on form for a majority of the season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen only garnered 6th fastest followed by his teammate, Sergio Perez in 8th.
Meanwhile, at the end of FP2, the precursor to how Saturday appeared, a rain shower started to drop rain in the final 10 minutes.
The story of Saturday was about the rain. In Free Practice 3, it was in full wet weather, which did not give the teams a chance to get the full pace out of their cars. However, since it was expected that qualifying would also be in the wet, teams took to the track to get in practice times. A bit of a rarity in F1 showed up at the start of the session as teams opted to put on the blue-sided extremely wet tires. Though it was not long before teams swapped over to the intermediate tires.
The session halted due to the wreck of Sainz as he was trading top times with his teammate and Verstappen. Even though he wrecked, Sainz did find himself in 5th of the timing charts by the end of the session. Verstappen found himself back in familiar territory topping the charts with his 2022 title challenger Leclerc following. Alonso found himself back in familiar territory in third with a surprise visit from Haas as Kevin Magnussen finished out in 4th.
The wet conditions and rain continued as qualifying started. While the rain may have been letting off a bit, intermediate tires were still the choice of the session. Before any laps could truly get set, Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu had technical issues and pulled off to the side of the track. Because of that, the red flag flew, not before Guanyu pulled away. When the session finally went back green, Verstappen and Alonso started to trade off times at the top of the timing board as the track was in a transitional phase of wet to dry.
Sainz found himself at the ire of the stewards along with Alpine and Gasly as he seemingly blocked the French driver on his fast lap on their way to the final chicane. Gasly was joined by the AlphaTauri’s of Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries along with Williams’ driver Logan Sargeant.
Round 2 of qualifying was the show of the qualifying session as the transitional phase between intermediate and dry tires started to show up. While a majority of drivers went out at the start of Q2 on intermediate tires, Williams driver Alex Albon went out immediately on soft tires and started to get laps in on the drying track. Because of this, he was able to put the fastest time of the session over Verstappen and Alonso.
While you had the elation of Albon making it into round 3 of qualifying with a great strategy call to put the dry tires on early, the strategy calls from Ferrari for Leclerc and Red Bull for Perez meant they didn’t make it to Q3 as the rain picked up once again and the conditions called for a return to the intermediate tires. They were joined by Canada’s own, Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll along with Haas’ Magnussen and Alfa Romeo’s Bottas.
Q3 was forecasted to be rainy with even heavier rain following, because of this, teams went out almost immediately so drivers could get their fastest times in as fast as possible at the start of the session. Verstappen took advantage of exiting the pit lane first and set 2 quick times providing him a provisional pole. As drivers were putting in fast times, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri found a spot on the track that was too wet for him, sending him into the wall. The session was red flagged which put his own teammate, Lando Norris, in a spot that he wasn’t able to put in his fastest time possible.
Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing (C), Second placed qualifier Nico Hulkenberg of Germany and Haas F1 (L) and Third placed qualifier Fernando Alonso of Spain and Aston Martin F1 Team (R) attend the press conference after qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 17, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo: Dan Istitene | Getty Images)
However, while some drivers were unlucky with the way the red flag fell, Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg put down a quick time and found himself sitting 2nd on the timing sheets. Alonso, on a fast lap, was set to possibly eclipse Hulkenberg, but the red flag fell before he was able to cross the line.
But with the timing of Piastri’s wreck with the worsening conditions, the fastest times of the session were set before the checkered flag flew. Verstappen obtained his 3rd pole in a row with Hulkenberg and Alonso finishing out the top 3. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell closed out the Top 5. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon followed with Norris and Sainz behind him, however, Sainz will be receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Gasly in Q1. Piastri, who wrecked, ended the session 9th and the hero of Q2. Albon, wasn’t able to put in a quick lap before the red flag and the worsening conditions and initially ended the session in 10th.
After qualifying, Hulkenberg was assessed with a three-place grid penalty, dropping him from second to fifth, promoting Alonso to second and Hamilton in third.
Now we wait for tomorrow for the Canadian Grand Prix and wonder if the chaos that occurred for the Friday and Saturday sessions continues to tomorrow and the actual race.
