Verstappen: Slicks gamble "never on" late in Canadian GP qualifying

Verstappen claimed pole for F1’s first race in Montreal since 2019, as he topped all three segments of a wet-but-drying qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, while his title rivals Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc qualified down the order – the former due to a crash and the latter because he did not need to risk an incident given his pre-qualifying engine change meant a back row start in any case.

The field ran full wets throughout Q1, but several drivers headed straight out on intermediates in Q2 – with most staying on the green-walled rubber for the rest of the session even as a clear dry line appeared with rain stopping and the cars clearing water away, particularly towards the end of the Montreal course.

Mercedes driver George Russell did switch to soft slicks ahead of the final runs in Q3, whereas the rest of his rivals in that segment took new inters.

The move backfired for the Briton as he went off at the second corner, where a large puddle of standing water at the slowly-draining apex meant he had to steer wider to the left on the still damp section of track and ended up spinning and sliding backwards into the barriers.

“It was just too wet in some places,” Verstappen said of Red Bull’s consideration for getting off the inters.

“Like, Turn 1, Turn 2, I think out of Turn 4 all the way into Turns 5/6 – so for me it was never on.

“Of course, it was only like 2.5-seconds [away from the predicted crossover lap time], but you cannot take that gamble in qualifying. So, for me it was never on.

“But the other places on the track it was quite dry, so also to manage your inter over a lap was quite a handful."

Pole man Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, receives his Pirelli Pole Position Award from Jacques