Max Verstappen was imperious as he swooped to pole position in a wet qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
As conditions constantly evolved throughout, the reigning world champion was simply a step ahead as he led Q1, Q2 and Q3 to secure only his second pole of the season in Montreal.
The Red Bull driver would finish an impressive six-tenths ahead of Fernando Alonso in second for Alpine, as the double world champion revelled in the wet.
His last lap would demote Carlos Sainz to third for Ferrari, as teammate Charles Leclerc prepared for a back row start on Sunday due to engine penalties.
Q1
All drivers headed out on full wet tyres in marginal conditions with big puddles and standing water in some corners.
As a result, it was all about building confidence as the track improved and Verstappen would set the pace ahead of final practice leader Alonso.
ELIMINATED (Q1)
Gasly
Vettel ?
Stroll
Latifi
Tsunoda (No time)#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/PWK7gRypBu— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2022
In the bottom five, however, Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel, who were second and third in FP3, dropped to 16th and 17th in a very disappointing result.
The two Montreal natives followed as Lance Stroll led Nicholas Latifi and Yuki Tsunoda was slowest but was due to start from the back anyway due to grid penalties.
Q2
The second part of qualifying saw a mix of tyres as some switched to intermediates while others stayed on the full wets.
All drivers though would switch to the green-striped compound as Alonso set the pace early on.
At that moment, Sergio Perez would become the big casualty of Q2 as he slid into the barrier at Turn 3 causing a red flag.
? RED FLAG ?
Perez also slides off on the Intermediates, and can’t get it out of the wall#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/bepojkmkOt
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2022
The Mexican though was still 13th after a power unit problem for Lando Norris meant he couldn’t set a time. Likewise, Charles Leclerc also didn’t set a time as he is set to join Tsunoda on the back row for Sunday’s race.
On the track, the two Haas’ were enjoying the conditions as they got both cars into the top 10.
Valtteri Bottas would be out-qualified by teammate Zhou Guanyu for the second straight race as the Finn was only 11th.
Alex Albon was the other driver in the elimination zone in P12.
Q3
The big question heading into Q3 was if anyone could gamble on slick tyres as the straights particularly became bone dry.
Though everyone initially went out on inters, George Russell would be brave enough to try the soft but too much wetness in Turns 1 and 2 quickly ended dashed any hopes of an upset.
Instead, Max Verstappen showed his prowess once again improving with every lap and securing pole with a 1m21.299.
Fernando Alonso produced a brilliant final lap to snatch P2 on the grid from Carlos Sainz, who dropped to third for Ferrari.
FERNANDO: “It feels great, it was an unbelievable weekend so far for us… the car was mega, I was so comfortable driving this car, and the fans pushed me to make an extra push.
“I think we’ll attack Max on the first corner!”#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/fBNtY0EeYi
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2022
Lewis Hamilton was fourth ahead of the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher.
Esteban Ocon was seventh with Russell dropping to eighth as Daniel Ricciardo and Zhou completed the top 10.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
Classification from an edge-of-your-seat qualifying session in Montreal ?#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/22vKyxjFVk
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2022