Canadian Grand Prix 2023: Verstappen grabs pole, but some surprises throughout the field

Is today the day the Formula 1 field gets shaken up?

It certainly could be.

We are about to get underway for qualifying ahead of the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. We will have live updates for you here throughout the sessions. For a deeper dive into Friday’s two bizarre practice sessions, as well as Saturday’s third and final practice, you can scroll down. But if you’re just looking for the qualifying information, we’ll have you covered up top here starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

All updates are in Eastern time.

If you are looking for live race coverage, we have you covered here.

Update 8:38: Just when you thought we were out, FIA pulls us back in ...

A number of post-qualifying penalties have been handed down, including one to Hülkenberg for his failure to to slow down during red flag conditions. Hülkenberg, who had qualified second, will now start fifth after a three-place penalty.

Hülkenberg is not the only driver who received a penalty. Penalties for impeding were also handed down to Sainz, Stroll, and Tsunoda.

Here is the revised starting order for the Canadian Grand Prix:

Update 5:23: That will do it for qualifying for the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, and while we await word on any penalty for Sainz, it is time to head outside and touch some grass. Perhaps maybe enjoy a Michelob Ultra or two, as we thank our partners for their help all season long.

Thanks for following along today! Let’s do it again soon.

Update 5:21: Alonso calls it a “tricky” qualifying. He then pays tribute to the fans, calling them “amazing.”

As for what it will take to knock Red Bull off, he says Aston Martin has a “chance” to put some pressure on Verstappen at the front of the field.

Update 5:20: “I think the car improved,” Verstappen says to Patrick. “We made all the right calls ... very happy to be on pole here.”

“I come from Holland, we are used to driving in the wet,” he adds. “We have a good race car.”

Update 5:18: Hülkenberg tells Danica Patrick trackside that he had some fun out there. “It was fun ... this comes a bit unexpected ... we’re happy.” “First row is nice, it’s sweet, let’s see how long we can keep that,” added the Haas driver. “Hopefully we’ll get a nice result.”

Update 5:16: And it’s official. Verstappen on pole, with Hülkenberg starting alongside him in P2. Alonso in third, followed by the Mercedes duo of Hamilton in P4 and Russell in P5.

Ocon is set to start in P6, with Norris in P7.

Sainz, Piastri, and then Albon who could not post a time in Q3, round out the top ten. Will Sainz stay there, though, given his incident with Gasly in Q1? That remains to be seen.

Update 5:13: All ten cars are back in the garage with 90 seconds left in Q3, and they can sense P2 over at Haas. This would be the first time that Hülkenberg started on the front row since the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.

Update 5:12: Alonso calls the conditions “horrid” as he comes back to pit lane.

Update 5:11: The full wets are going onto Verstappen’s RB19. Hamilton says over the radio to his team that it might be time for the full wet tyres.

Update 5:10: Verstappen heads to the garage, as Red Bull must believe that there is no way anyone can catch his time given the conditions.

Update 5:09: Verstappen says over the radio to his team: “Yeah it’s a lot wetter already.”

Update 5:08: They are doing a rain dance over at Haas:

Update 5:07: Drivers are lining up, but Alonso says over the radio that “I don’t think we will improve anything” given the conditions.

Update 5:06: Race officials have indicated that Q3 will resume in two minutes.

Update 5:02: Alpine tells Ocon that it is still raining, and will “continue to rain.”

This is the top ten as it stands:

Verstappen
Hülkenberg
Alonso
Hamilton
Russell
Ocon
Norris
Sainz
Piastri
Albon

Albon sits tenth due to his only lap time being deleted for exceeding track limits.

Update 5:01: So we’ve got some drama. Verstappen improves on his time down to 1:25.828. Piastri crashes at Turn 7 which brings out the red flag. But before that flew, Hülkenberg posts a time that pushes him into P2. Could this be how it ends, with Haas on the front row!?

Update 4:59: Verstappen finishes his first lap and comes across at 1:27.059. With the conditions the way they are, that could be the marker. Alonso comes across at 1:27.286 and Norris at 1:28.046. Those are your top three at the moment.

Update 4:58: Conditions seem to be worsening as Q3 begins. Haas tells Hülkenberg that conditions are “getting worse and worse.”

Update 4:55: Drivers are queing up for Q3, and everyone looks to have the intermediates on to begin the session.

Update 4:53: While we wait for Q3 to begin, we note that Piastri — thanks to his P4 in Q2 — gets our photo of honor for the third session.

Will that do for him what the selection of Albon did for the Williams driver in Q2? We will know in a few minutes.

Update 4:50: The ten drivers through to Q3 in order:

Albon
Verstappen
Norris
Piastri
Alonso
Sainz
Russell
Hülkenberg
Ocon
Hamilton

Albon’s call to get out early on the softs and bank two strong laps looks smarter and smarter each passing minute.

Update 4:49: Q2 comes to a close with Leclerc, Pérez, Stroll, Magnussen, and Bottas eliminated. Leclerc is audibly frustrated, as he was asking for soft tyres but the team wanted him to post a lap on the intermediates. The track never came to him on the inters, and he will be watching Q3 for the rest of us:

Update 4:47: Under a minute to go and it is hard to see how any of the five drivers in the drop zone (Leclerc, Pérez, Stroll, Magnussen, and Bottas) can find the lap they need in the worsening conditions.

Update 4:46: Rain is intensifying, which might make it hard for the five at the bottom to find the lap they need to advance to Q2.

Update 4:43: Piastri up to P4 making the McLaren duo P3 and P4. Leclerc, Pérez, Stroll, Magnussen, and Bottas are currently in the elimination zone.

Update 4:42: Verstappen puts in a lap on the softs and ... does not top Albon. Albon is in P1 with Verstappen behind him now in P2. Norris pushes into P3 as time ticks down.

Update 4:40: Albon’s second lap on the softs is even better, and he drops in a lap of 1:18.725. That is a full second ahead of Alonso in P2, and the rain is falling in Montreal. Could Albon have clinched not just Q3, but the top spot in Q2?

Update 4:38: A number of drivers have made the change to the soft tyres, including Norris who, as noted below, Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Pérez, and Albon are on the softs as well.

Albon posts a lap of 1:19.471 which pushes him into P1. Could that hold if rain comes?

Update 4:36: Verstappen posts the first time of the session, with a time of 1:20.135, moving to the top of the sheets. He is followed by Piastri, Alonso, Leclerc, Sainz, Ocon, Pérez, and Bottas early.

Stroll spins out but somehow manages to avoid the barriers.

Update 4:34: McLaren tells Norris the rain will be “intermittent” and the bigger rains could be coming later. Norris then asks if they could get away with a slick tyre instead of the intermediates. Ferrari tells Leclerc that the rain is coming in “six to seven minutes.”

Albon is on a soft compound as Q2 begins.

Update 4:33: Thanks to his P6 in Q1, Albon gets our photo of honor while we wait for Q2 to begin.

Update 4:31: Here is the qualification from Q1 as we get ready for Q2:

Update 4:29: Tsunoda, Gasly, de Vries, Sargeant, and Zhou are the five drivers eliminated.

Update 4:28: Gasly: “He should be banned for such a thing!”

The Alpine driver is furious with Sainz.

Update 4:26: Some controversy as Sainz impedes Gasly, who was in desperate search of a good lap to advance into Q2. Gasly finishes in P17 and Sainz in P11, but expect to see an investigation into Sainz impeding Gasly.

As you may recall, Gasly was cited for impeding Sainz back in Barcelona.

Update: 4:25: Stroll gets the lap he needs, jumping up to P8.

Update 4:24: A massive lap from Albon puts him into P5 for the moment. Meanwhile hometown hero Lance Stroll is in danger, currently sitting P17.

Stroll’s teammate jumps to P1 for the moment.

Update 4:22: Top five at the moment are Verstappen, Alonso, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Norris. The McLaren driver is putting together a strong qualifying session, just as he did two weeks ago in Barcelona.

Update 4:21: Five minutes remain in Q1 and the five drivers in danger are Nyck de Vries, Piastri, Tsunoda, Sargeant, and Zhou.

Update 4:19: Verstappen improves to P1 with a lap time of 1:21.988, and the gap from him to Sainz in P4 is over a second.

Update 4:18: Under eight minutes remain in Q1, and here is the current top ten:

Alonso
Verstappen
Norris
Leclerc
Hülkenberg
Magnussen
Hamilton
Ocon
Gasly
Stroll

Update 4:16: With under ten minutes left in Q1 it is starting to get sporty out there:

Update 4:14: Ho hum, Verstappen to the top of the timing sheets with his first lap. But surprisingly enough Magnussen goes into P2 and Hülkenberg into P6. A big day from Haas coming?

Update 4:12: Things are back underway and Sargeant is reporting rain at Turn 2. This could get real interesting rather quickly.

Update 4:10: They just showed the radar images on display in the Williams pit box and some serious weather is on the way. With the three lap times posted by Sargeant, Albon, and Bottas, on intermediates, that could work in their favor if drivers have to make the change to the full wet tyres shortly.

Update 4:07: Before the red flag three drivers managed to post lap times, so your early leaders are:

Sargeant
Albon
Bottas

None of the other drivers had completed a lap before the red flag.

Update 4:05: And the red flag is out after Zhou stopped in the second sector. He managed to get the car restarted, so Zhou may be able to salvage his qualifying effort.

Update 4:02: An early problem for Alfa Romeo as Zhou Guanyu who has lost power. The yellow flag has not come out yet.

Update 4:01: Cars are lining up to take to the track with the Williams duo of Albon and Sargeant up front. Looks like everyone is on the intermediates.

Update 3:59: According to race officials the chance of rain during qualifying is 90% so ... buckle up!

Update 3:55: We are about to get underway with qualifying and as is tradition around these parts that means ... Opening Titles!

They get the people going ...

Update 3:45: Here is the official decision regarding Sainz:

Update 3:41: Race officials have decided not to impose a penalty on Sainz for “impeding” during FP3. Race officials summoned Sainz for an incident during the third practice where he held up Alex Albon, but after meeting with both drivers the stewards are not taking further action, as they found that Sainz slowed because of Verstappen in front of him, and did not “unnecessarily” impede Albon behind him.

Update 3:36: Umbrellas are up on pit lane during F1TV’s pre-qualifying show. Could make for a few surprises in a few moments once Q1 gets underway.

Update 3:30: Russell and Daniel Ricciardo have jokes:

Update 3:02: Under an hour to go until qualifying, and work continues on the SF-23 of Carlos Sainz Jr. Sainz’s hard crash into the barrier caused damage to both the front and the rear ends of the Ferrari, but F1 journalist Albert Fabrega reports that Sainz’s SF-23 should be ready for qualifying:

With weather looming, as it often does at the Canadian Grand Prix, the teams are set for both the third practice session, and qualifying, ahead of Sunday’s main event. Today could be something of a voyage of discovery for the drivers and the teams, thanks in part to the weather but also Friday’s bizarre practice sessions.

The first practice session saw just four minutes of actual action, but was halted first when Pierre Gasly had a failure, and remained halted due to a CCTV failure on the track. FP2 was extended by thirty minutes as a result. Officials were able to complete repairs to the CCTV system, and a backup plan was put in place as well.

While Valtteri Bottas topped the timing sheets in the abbreviated FP1, it was a different story during FP2. With the threat of rain looming, many teams took to the track at the start of the extended FP2 looking to get in some early qualifying simulations, which saw the Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc at the top of the table early after some strong runs on the soft compound, followed by Max Verstappen.

Then with just over one hour to go in the extended session, the red flag was out again. Nico Hülkenberg’s Haas experienced an engine failure, forcing the driver to stop the car on the track and exit the cockpit before his VF-23 burst into flames. Marshals were able to get to the car before it caught fire, but they could not stave off the need for the stoppage.

This was the top five when the red flag came out:

Leclerc
Verstappen
Sainz
Bottas
Gasly

The session resumed with 52 minutes left, and the threat of rain continuing to linger over the grid. Sam Collins of F1TV indicated that there were two storm cells lingering in the region that were expected to hit the area at some point in the next hour.

Then came another red flag, as Esteban Ocon of Alpine stopped on the track at the exit of Turn 9. That meant both Alpine drivers had experienced a failure on Friday, and with the rain coming in, teams were facing the prospects of resuming under wet conditions.

With under 30 minutes remaining, the Silver Arrows made some noise. Lewis Hamilton pushed to the top of the grid, followed just behind by George Russell, to put Mercedes P1 and P2 as the skies darkened.

As the clock ticked down to 15 minutes remaining, the wind picked up, the pollen was flying, and strikes of lightning were seen in the distance, just beyond the hairpin turn at the northern end of the circuit. The rain had arrived, and a flurry of activity broke out on pit lane. Ferrari made the decision to send both Sainz and Leclerc out on the hard compound, hoping to get just the slightest bit of data on the hards before FP2 came to a close.

The conditions also made for some incredible visuals:

The bulk of the teams made the switch to the intermediate tyres, including Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull, along with Gasly and Oscar Piastri. Suddenly, the skies opened, and the downpour began. That led to an incredible moment on F1TV, as Alex Jacques lamented “what a ridiculous day.” Some drivers were out on the track with slick compounds, and struggled to get back to the pits.

But with just a minute remaining, Alonso and Stroll came out to the cheers of an emptying grandstand on the intermediates. Stroll went deep into the curve at Turn 9, and Sainz did as well, and finally — mercifully — the session came to a close:

Here is the classification for FP2:

With that as the backdrop, we turn to today’s FP3 and qualifying session. Qualifying will get underway at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, but we will be providing live updates starting at 3:00 p.m. from FP3, so come back early, and often!

Saturday’s practice session began in wet and rainy conditions, and the teams that came out on the track early mostly began the day on the full wet compound. 15 minutes into the session, the top five times were set by Bottas, Verstappen, Leclerc, Gasly, and Pérez, with both Bottas and Leclerc on the intermediates and the other three setting their times on the full wet compound.

One driver who seemed to be struggling early in FP3 was Yuki Tsunoda. The AlphaTauri driver spun out twice in the first 15 minutes, both times while he was using the intermediate compound.

Just before the halfway point, Sainz found himself in the wall, coming into Turn 1, and the red flag came out. The contact with the wall ripped the front wing and nose of Sainz’s SF-23 clean off. Sainz lost the rear end entering the turn, before spinning into the wall:

At the time of the red flag, here were the top-ten times:

Verstappen
Sainz
Leclerc
Pérez
Norris
Hülkenberg
Tsunoda
Russell
Ocon
Bottas

All of those times were set on the intermediate tyres.

With ten minutes left in the session, heavier rain arrived, and Verstappen remained ahead of the pack. Here was the top ten as the minutes ticked down and the heavier rain fell:

Verstappen 1:23.106
Leclerc +0.291
Alonso +1.377
Magnussen +1.609
Sainz +1.659
Gasly +1.719
Stroll +1.838
Tsunoda +1.849
Bottas +1.882
Hamilton +1.981

With just three minutes left in the session, all 20 drivers were on pit lane and it looked as if many teams were ready to turn the page to qualifying. Alonso climbed out of his Aston Martin, as did Magnussen out of his Haas, and Norris out of his MCL60, and many fans exited the grandstand in search of drier conditions.

Perfect conditions for a duck, as one might say.

Here’s how FP3 finished up:

We’ll see you in a few hours for qualifying!