Canada – Qualifying: Sebastian Vettel Emerges at the Perfect Moment
Sebastian Vettel was able to find his way back to pole position in Montreal, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen, who had dominated all the sessions until now. Lewis Hamilton had to settle for 4th place.
On this occasion of the qualifying session in Montreal, the weather conditions were perfect, with plenty of sunshine and a temperature of 23°C.
Max Verstappen started this session as the strong favorite after topping the timesheets in all three free practice sessions. But just a minute into the session, it was already over for Romain Grosjean as the engine of his Haas exploded in the pit lane while the Frenchman was taking to the track for the first time.
Ten minutes later, it was Marcus Ericsson who had to prematurely end this session after hitting the wall with the right front. Projected into the middle of the track, the Swede nearly collided with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. The Sauber driver was therefore assured of starting in 19th position.
For the first time this weekend, it wasn’t Max Verstappen who topped Q1 as Scuderia Ferrari dominated with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, just ahead of the two Mercedes and the two Red Bulls.
The battle for elimination in Q1 saw Fernando Alonso save himself in his last attempt, moving up to 14th position, just ahead of his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne. Unfortunately, it was the Frenchman Pierre Gasly who paid the price in this battle, finishing in 16th position. The disappointment will be even greater as his teammate, Brendon Hartley, finished this Q1 in 8th position.
The Q1 eliminations are: Gasly, Stroll, Sirotkin, Ericsson, and Grosjean.
During Q2, Ferrari and Mercedes attempted an alternate tire strategy by opting for ultra-soft tires instead of hyper-softs. This did not seem to hinder their performance as all four drivers managed to go faster in this second phase of qualifying than in the first.
Red Bull did not choose this option as both its drivers started with the softest tires. Max Verstappen then resumed his good weekend-starting habits by taking the lead, while Daniel Ricciardo settled for sixth place. Finally, at the last moment, the Australian managed to climb to the top of the timing sheets, even setting a new absolute record at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
On the other hand, Charles Leclerc managed to slip into Q2 for the fourth consecutive time. He even had the pleasure of legitimately overtaking both McLaren drivers. Fernando Alonso will therefore start his 300th Grand Prix in 14th position. Kevin Magnussen was eliminated, finishing ahead of the Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley.
The record of Daniel Ricciardo had a very short lifespan as Valtteri Bottas sent a big message on his first attempt in Q3, with 1:10.857, three-tenths ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who missed the braking at the hairpin. But Sebastian Vettel managed to go even faster by only 81 hundredths. The Red Bulls failed to up their game as Max Verstappen clocked the 4th time while Daniel Ricciardo was the last of the top team trio.
During the last run, Kimi Räikkönen made a mistake at the second corner, which forced him to back off. This cost him dearly as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were able to improve, dropping him to fifth position. However, Sebastian Vettel was able to improve his time even further and secure another pole position.
Behind, Esteban Ocon managed to secure a very impressive eighth place, well ahead of Sergio Perez, who finished 10th. The Frenchman from Sahara Force India positioned himself between the two Renaults of Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz.
