F1 Canadian Grand Prix 2022 – Return to Gilles’ backyard
Max Verstappen looks to emphasise his dominance from pole position at today’s Canadian Grand Prix with the testing conditions throwing another interesting wrinkle as he targets a second world championship. The Red Bull driver was untouchable in the rain as mistakes and mechanical issues rained on the parade of his closest challengers.
The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit saw Fernando Alonso secure second in qualification for Alpine, Carlos Sainz starts third for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton, despite his very public complaints about the state of the Mercedes W13 car, is back near the top of the field, with the seven-time world champion seizing fourth for the Silver Arrows. Special praise should also come for Haas team, who locked out the third row of the grid thanks to Kevin Magnussen in fifth and Mick Schumacher in sixth.
Do not expect Alonso to play it safe from the start today, which makes for a fascinating prospect when lights go out: “The goal is to lead the race in lap one. Turn One, maximum attack. And then after that, they can go and they can fight – but it will be nice, sweet to lead the race.” While Verstappen added: “Fernando is getting a little bit old, but he’s still very fast,” Verstappen said. “So I know he starts very well, you know, so I have to be ready. To be on the front row together with Fernando; I used to look at F1 as a little kid, seeing Fernando being up there and winning his races and championships and putting it on pole. So to be sharing the front row is a nice thing.” Follow all the latest updates as we build towards this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix:
George Russell says Mercedes ‘have a lot of work to do’ to avoid painful Canadian Grand Prix
George Russell says Mercedes still “have a lot of work to do” to catch up to the frontrunning teams in Formula 1 after struggling in the opening practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows have been the fastest team in Formula 1 every season since 2014, but are off the pace of frontrunners Ferrari and Red Bull this season, and Russell ended up only seventh fastest at the end of the second round of practice running in Montreal on Friday evening.
Mercedes have been struggling after transitioning to F1’s new set of technical regulations, which have undergone their biggest revision in a generation. A return to ground effect aerodynamics for the first time since the 1980s has brought with it the unexpected aerodynamic quirk known as porpoising, which is the name given to the phenomenon whereby cars bounce up and down violently at high speeds on long straights.
Jack Rathborn19 June 2022 13:45
Max Verstappen masters conditions to take pole position at Canadian Grand Prix
Max Verstappen stormed to a scintillating pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix as he dominated in changeable conditions to continue his quest for a second world championship.
The Red Bull driver was untouchable in the rain as mistakes and mechanical issues rained on the parade of his closest challengers.
With the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit drying out throughout qualifying, Verstappen was the man who mastered the conditions, clocking an impressive time of one minute 21.299 seconds as Formula One delivered on its return to Montreal following a three-year hiatus.
Fernando Alonso will start second for Alpine, the experienced campaigner also getting on top of the weather to take his first front-row start in over a decade.
Jack Rathborn19 June 2022 13:30
F1 Constructors championship latest standings
6. Alfa Romeo Racing, 41.
Jack Rathborn19 June 2022 13:15
F1 Drivers championship latest standings
1. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing, 150 points.
2. Sergio Perez, Mexico, Red Bull Racing, 129.
3. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 116.
7. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren, 50.
8. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing, 40.
9. Esteban Ocon, France, Alpine, 31.
10. Pierre Gasly, France, Alphatauri, 16.
12. Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas F1 Team, 15.
13. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, McLaren, 15.
14. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Aston Martin, 13.
15. Yuki Tsunoda, Japan, Alphatauri, 11.
16. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Williams, 3.
17. Lance Stroll, Canada, Aston Martin, 2.
18. Guanyu Zhou, China, Alfa Romeo Racing, 1.
Jack Rathborn19 June 2022 13:00
Lewis Hamilton elated with ‘awesome’ fourth at wet Canadian Grand Prix qualifying
Reigning champion Verstappen was untouchable amid the showers as mistakes and mechanical issues rained on the parade of his closest challengers.
With the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit drying out throughout qualifying, Verstappen was the man who mastered the conditions, clocking an impressive time of one minute 21.299 seconds as Formula One delivered on its return to Montreal following a three-year hiatus.
Jack Rathborn19 June 2022 12:45
F1 starting grid for Canadian Grand Prix
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- Fernando Alonso – Alpine
- Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
- Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
- Kevin Magnussen – Haas
- Mick Schumacher – Haas
- Esteban Ocon – Alpine
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren
- Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
- Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
- Alexander Albon – Williams
- Sergio Perez – Red Bull
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri
- Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Nicholas Latifi – Williams
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
Jack Rathborn19 June 2022 12:27
