Looking at the third free practice session, we had a very exciting qualifying session, and Canada did not disappoint. Mercedes' resurrection, Ferrari's failure, Red Bull's embarrassment, there was everything we could expect from a stage that lasted all night!
In Q1, everything was business as usual, at least for Red Bull, where Max Verstappen put in a great performance and Sergio Perez once again delivered a pathetic performance. It is no surprise to the Mexican that he is unable to make it to Q2 in the most likely technique for the world championship… Verstappen, meanwhile, beat Perez by a second to win Q1 ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Lewis Hamilton.
Even the two Alfa Romeos, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg, were forced to take the "Perez route", and they did not make it to the next phase of qualifying either.
Meanwhile, there was a constant rain warning (let's not say that a drop or two is not much, you couldn't even see that much falling on the track...), but the drivers continued to circle dry. The drivers gave each other the lead, and in the end the Mercedes, which performed best in the third free practice, closed in the lead, predicting that we won't really see Red Bull... - SORRY - Verstappen in pole position this time either. However, we did see an unusual double elimination of Ferraris, with Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly following them into nowhere.
In the first laps of Q3, Verstappen tried to show direction and even took the lead for a while, but the two Mercedes managed to get in front of the Dutchman. George Russell was one of them, and as it turned out later, this proved to be decisive... Because in the final shots, even though Max Verstappen drove the same number of laps as the leading Russell, the Briton ran it earlier, so he got the pole in Canada!
