Canadian GP: Verstappen sails to P1 in wet Practice 3

Max Verstappen sailed to the top of the timesheet in a wet final practice at the Canadian Grand Prix.

A very wet track meant the drivers headed out on the new extreme wet Pirelli tyres that do not require any pre-heating in the blankets to start the session.

It wasn’t too long though before the intermediates appeared with Fernando Alonso among the first to put on the green-marked rubber.

Conditions were still tricky though as proved by a spin for Yuki Tsunoda exiting Turn 5 and multiple drivers taking to the run-off areas at the Turn 10 hairpin and final chicane.

Ferrari seemed to be enjoying the wet, however, as Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc alternated at the top of the timesheets.

It wasn’t long until Max Verstappen also joined the fray as a drier line emerged and lap times significantly improved.

Traffic also proved a problem with Alex Albon and Sainz having two separate incidents to the frustration of the Williams driver.

Sainz’s session then got worse as he lost the rear under braking into Turn 1 and slid into the barriers, causing a red flag.

Once cleared, Verstappen emerged and put in a string of fastest laps, ending with a best time of 1m23.106s.

Leclerc was the only driver to get close to the world champion in second, just under three-tenths slower in his Ferrari.

Alonso followed a second further back in third, ahead of Kevin Magnussen in fourth.

Sainz’s best time was good enough for fifth despite his crash, followed by Pierre Gasly in sixth.

Lance Stroll finished seventh, ahead of Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas in ninth.

Lewis Hamilton struggled with a lack of grip in 10th, with Nico Hulkenberg 11th and the two McLarens in 12th and 13th.

Albon claimed 14th, in front of George Russell in 15th as both Mercedes’ appeared to struggle in the wet.

Nyck de Vries was 16th, Sergio Perez only 17th in the second Red Bull with Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon and Logan Sargeant completing the order.