Roundup of a wet FP3 and Qualifying as Max Verstappen claimed pole position for 2023 Canadian Grand Prix.
Rain impacted both FP3 and Qualifying but it was Verstappen who dominated proceedings to claim his 25th pole position in F1.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg snatched a surprise front-row start alongside Verstappen by pure luck after timing his final Q3 lap to perfection amidst a falling red flag, which denied Fernando Alonso a chance to snatch pole position.
Now, here is a roundup of all the drama across FP3 and Qualifying for 2023 Canadian Grand Prix.
FP3
Heavy overnight rainfall which continued throughout the morning left the circuit wet at the start of FP3 with Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen first out, as everyone initially opted for wet tyre running with Magnussen setting the benchmark time of 1m 34.797 in the fifth minute.
Alonso then Esteban Ocon lowered the benchmark in the following four minutes before Alonso led a steady switch to intermediates tyres, whilst Ocon further lowered the benchmark time on wet tyres to 1m 30.348 in the 12th minute to displace Yuki Tsunoda.
Sergio Perez and Verstappen went quickest in the 13th minute on wet tyres before Alonso finally went top on intermediates with 1m 27.517 in the 16th minute, only for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to go 0.272 seconds quicker just one minute later.
Charles Leclerc posted 1m 26.733 a further minute later to go fastest but was displaced by Hulkenberg in the 21st minute, before he found 0.707s to go back top of the timesheets.
Verstappen however posted 1m 24.977 to go fastest in the 25th minute but was briefly displaced by Leclerc a minute later, only to reclaim the fastest lap with 1m 24.480 in the 28th minute to head Sainz on the half-hour mark.
Sainz however brought out the red flag in the 30th minute after he lost control of his Ferrari into Turn 1 and spun into the barriers, losing his front wing and halted proceedings for everyone else.
The session resumed eight minutes later with Gasly first back out on track but nobody could catch Verstappen, who lowered his benchmark time on three occasions to a session topping 1m 23.106 ahead of Leclerc by 0.291s.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 23.106 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.291 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.377 |
| 4 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.609 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 1.659 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.719 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.838 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.849 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.882 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.981 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 2.034 |
| 12 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 2.0.85 |
| 13 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.092 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.273 |
| 15 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 2.329 |
| 16 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 2.619 |
| 17 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 2.751 |
| 18 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 3.644 |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 3.734 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 4.173 |
Qualifying
Q1
Showers in-between sessions left the circuit damp at the start of Qualifying with everyone heading straight out on intermediate tyres.
Q1 however was red flagged with 14 minutes and 33s on the clock after Zhou stopped at Turn Six with a loss of power, yet he was able to get going again and recovered to the pit lane as Williams’ Logan Sargeant headed Albon and Bottas who were the only drivers to set a lap time.
The session resumed seven minutes later with everyone once again straight out in fear of incoming heavy rain showers, led by Verstappen who immediately posted 1m 24.106 to set a new benchmark time as the times evolved throughout Q1.
With ten minutes left, the elimination zone compromised of; Russell, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sargeant and Tsunoda.
Come the checkered flag, the former trio escaped elimination as Tsunoda improved to 16th ahead of Gasly and De Vries, as Sargeant ultimately finished second slowest behind Zhou with the eliminated quintet separated by 0.596s.
Verstappen meanwhile battled Alonso throughout for the fastest lap time and ultimately prevailed with 1m 20.851 to top Q1.
Q2
With rain continuing to threaten above the circuit, everyone again headed straight out with all but Albon on intermediates as the Williams driver gambled on the slick soft tyre.
Albon’s gamble subsequently led everyone else to take the gamble after posting a banker lap time with Russell setting the pace on 1m 20.098 out of the intermediate tyre runners.
Albon meanwhile needed two laps to warm up his soft tyres before he posted 1m 19.471 in the sixth minute to go fastest, before he found 0.746s to go even quicker with 1m 18.725 in the eighth minute.
The bottom five with six minutes left compromised of; Magnussen, Stroll, Bottas, Norris and Hulkenberg once everyone posted a lap time, with only Perez sticking with intermediate tyres as everyone else took the soft tyre.
The Mexican’s gamble ultimately failed to pay off as the rain returned with four minutes left but conditions had worsened within two minutes to end any prospect of improvement, as Albon topped Q2 for Williams with his brave gamble.
Albon’s result also marked the first time that any Williams driver had topped a Qualifying segment since Felipe Massa topped Q1 at 2016 Belgian Grand Prix.
Leclerc and Perez meanwhile were surprise eliminations once the checkered flag fell and will line up 11th and 12th on the grid ahead of hometown hero, Stroll with Magnussen and Bottas also knocked out of Qualifying.
Q3
With the rain worsening, Verstappen led everyone out on the intermediate tyres and immediately set a benchmark time of 1m 27.059 in the fourth minute, which saw him head Alonso once everyone set their first lap time.
Verstappen on his next lap improved to 1m 25.858 as Piastri spun into the barriers at Turn Seven to bring out the red flags with seven minutes and 11s left on the clock.
Hulkenberg meanwhile squeezed into second position just as the red flag fell which meant that he was set to hand Haas their highest start on the grid for a Grand Prix, ahead of Alonso, Hamilton, Russell, Ocon, Norris, Sainz, Piastri and Albon.
The session resumed seven minutes later with Sainz leading everyone except Piastri back out on track amidst ever worsening rain, which ultimately prevented further improvement as Verstappen claimed his 25th pole position in F1.
Post-session, Hulkenberg was handed a three-place grid penalty for failing to stay above the minimum delta time during the Q3 red flag, which dropped the German from second to fifth and promoted Alonso, Hamilton and Russell a position each.
Sainz meanwhile got a three-place grid penalty of his own after he blocked Gasly at the final corner in Q1, which dropped Sainz to 11th on the grid just behind his teammate – Leclerc, whilst Piastri and Albon also were promoted a position each to eighth and ninth respectively.
Stroll was dropped from 13th to 16th on the grid after he was found to have impeded Ocon during Q2, whilst Tsunoda will start 19th after he was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Hulkenberg in Q1.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 25.858 |
| 2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.244 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.428 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.769 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 2.035 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 2.087 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.188 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 3.436 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 5.491 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | No Time |
| 11 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 20.615 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.344 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.869 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.063 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.206 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1m 22.746 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.140 |
| 18 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 0.391 |
| 19 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.591 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.596 |