MAX AS USUAL, NICO AND HAAS ON FIRST ROW

Max Verstappen took his fifth pole of the season in tricky, rapidly changing wet, dry and wet again conditions in Montréal as Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg scored a surprise front row finish for Haas.

It’s the German’s best Qualifying position since he scored pole at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix in wet conditions. Hülkenberg will start ahead of third-place Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso.

"In the wet, you have to just stay on top of all the conditions," said Verstappen. "And it was super slippery out there in some places. But we just made all the right calls at the right time on the track, you know, to do the lap times. And of course, we're happy to be on pole here."

The opening segment got underway on a damp track with all drivers taking to the track on intermediate tyres. However, running was halted after three minutes when Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou stopped at the side of the track reporting a loss of power. He was eventually able to get moving again and limped back to the pit lane under red flags.

After a seven-minute delay the session resumed and Verstappen led the field out. Alonso then stole top spot just under two tenths clear of the Dutchman, with McLaren’s Lando Norris in third.

Verstappen went for another lap and he retook P1, as Charles Leclerc moved to third behind Alonso and the Red Bull driver then improved again, setting purple times in the first and third sectors.

The track was rapidly improving, and after Alex Albon had jumped to fifth, Alonso took top spot, almost two tenths clear of Verstappen. The Dutchman wouldn’t be denied, however, and after setting segment best times in all three sectors he ended Q1 on top, six tenths clear of Alonso, with Lewis Hamilton third ahead of team-mate George Russell, Leclerc and Albon.

Out at the end of Q1 were Yuki Tsunoda in P16, followed by Pierre Gasly, the second AlphaTauri of Nyck de Vries, Logan Sargent and Zhou Guanyu.

Keen to make the most of a drying track ahead of expected rain, Verstapenn was at the head of the queue at the start of Q2 and on Inters the Dutchman established the benchmark.

George Russell then took top spot as Verstappen pitted for slicks. Albon had also taken on softs and he was the first to exploit their better performance, jumping to P1.

Alonso slotted into P2 also on slicks while Lando Norris moved to P3 on softs. With rain beginning to fall, Verstappen moved up to P2 on softs.

Further back other were struggling. Leclerc and Sergio Pérez both made the move to slicks but neither chose the perfect moment and as the rain intensified there was no way back for either, Leclerc bowing out in P11 just ahead of Pérez.

Also out at the end of Q2 were P13 man Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

With steady rain falling across the Île Notre-Dame ahead of Q3, Verstappen again headed the queue at the end of the pit lane for the start of the top-10 shootout. And despite some nervous moments on his opening flyer the Dutchman posted a incredible lap.

In worsening conditions, the Dutchman somehow managed to find more grip and more pace and with his next flying lap he took over a second out of his opener, a full 1.2 seconds ahead of P2 man Nico Hülkenberg of Haas, with Alonso third.

The session was then red-flagged. Oscar Piastri lost control of his McLaren at the exit of Turn 7 and slid backwards into the wall. After another seven-minute delay the session resumed, with seven minutes on the clock.

The rain was intensifying, however, and when the green light came on and the drivers filed out onto the track, Verstappen was soon on the radio reporting that it was "a lot wetter already".

He immediately headed back to the pit lane and when Sainz Jr.’s engineer told him even heavier rain was about to arrive it was clear that any improvement was out of the question and pole, number five for the season, belonged to Max.

Hülkenberg took his first front row grid spot since he claimed pole at a sodden Interlagos in 2010, while Alonso qualified third alongside Hamilton. Russell finished fifth on the timesheet ahead of Esteban Ocon, Norris and Sainz Jr.. Piastri qualified in ninth position and Albon was tenth.

PENALTIES

Canadian GP stewards decided award 3 place penalty for Carlos Sainz Jr..

The Ferrari driver was found guilty of impending Pierre Gasly in the first qualifying session. So Sainz Jr. instead of P8 it will start from P11.

Thanks to his penalty, Oscar Piastri, Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc moved up one position on the grid.

Canadian GP race stewards penalized Yuki Tsunoda by dropping him three places on the grid for impending Nico Hulkenberg during qualifying and he will eventually start 19th.

Lance Stroll was also penalized three places for blocking Esteban Ocon at Turn 8 during qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. Stroll thus drops from P13 to P16, behind Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Pierre Gasly.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified second in Montreal, but will only start fifth due to a three-place penalty. The stewards scold him for not slowing down enough under red flags.

Usually in such a situation the driver loses ten places at the start, but the stewards took into account that Hulkenberg tried to slow down as much as possible and was confused by the beeps he received, thinking that he was too slow.

It is important that at no time was his speed too high.