Canada – Qualifications: Vettel back on pole, Ricciardo brilliant in 4th

As the qualifying session approached, the big question was whether Ferrari would confirm its good form, with its two one-two finishes in the last two practice sessions. But before aiming for pole position, it was a matter of erasing the blunder in Monaco where the team failed to bring Charles Leclerc out.

The two Ferrari drivers were among the first to take to the track, stringing together laps to avoid any risks. This resulted in a great performance as the two drivers once again claimed the top two spots. However, the margins were extremely tight, with Valtteri Bottas only 0.029 seconds off Sebastian Vettel’s benchmark.

In the Q1 elimination game, we found, besides the usual Williams, the two Racing Points as well as Kimi Räikkönen. It is therefore the first time that Antonio Giovinazzi will start ahead of his teammate because, although he beat him during the Baku qualifications, his penalty had relegated him behind on the grid.

For Q2, the two leading teams directly opted for yellow-banded tires, or mediums, with the race in mind. On their first attempt, Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc were forced to slow down as they made a mistake in turn 9. This had no consequence as they were able to immediately set a time that easily allowed them to advance to Q3. However, the two Mercedes decided to do a second stint, still on mediums, which allowed them to take the lead in the session.

Max Verstappen used the same medium strategy but it didn’t work as he was in 11th place after his first stint. He thus complained about a lack of grip on these new tires. He went out for a final attempt on softs. However, the session was interrupted before he could complete a final lap due to Kevin Magnussen’s massive crash in the last corner. The Dane emerged unharmed unlike his car, which was completely destroyed by the double impact with the walls on both sides of the pit straight.

“🚩 RED FLAG 🚩

Big crash for Magnussen who hits the Wall of Champions and then collides with the pit wall on the opposite side of the track

K-Mag is okay and out of the car 👍 #CanadianGP 🇨🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/k4wvuWhVxg” — Formula 1 (@F1) June 8, 2019

Romain Grosjean was also an indirect victim of this accident as he had not completed his first lap at the start of the session due to an error in turn 6 and was then on a very good lap but was following his teammate and therefore was not able to record his name on the timesheet, which relegated him to 15th place.

The Q2 eliminations are: Verstappen, Giovinazzi, Kvyat, Albon, and Grosjean.

It took nearly a quarter of an hour for the session to be restarted. Coming out of the second corner, Valtteri Bottas was very lucky not to hit the wall as he spun at the reacceleration.

Big spin for Bottas coming out of Turn 2

The Finn somehow manages to avoid hitting the wall #CanadianGP 🇨🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/sMcaiE0Geu

— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 juin 2019

The Finn was thus forced to put everything on a single lap at the very end of the session. But his attempt was marked by two tire lock-ups, which relegated him to a very modest sixth place.

Lewis Hamilton had made a big impact by setting the new track record. But at the very last moment, Sebastian Vettel surged forward to snatch the pole, with over two-tenths of a second advantage. The German thus achieved his first pole position since his home Grand Prix, 17 races ago! The smile on his face as he got out of the car showed how much this performance benefits him mentally.

Charles Leclerc, trailing behind his teammate, still managed to secure 3rd place on the grid while Daniel Ricciardo had set a magnificent lap. The Australian will therefore start from 4th place on the grid, which is a very big performance since to find a Renault so well placed, you have to go back to the Japanese Grand Prix in 2010, with a certain Robert Kubica at the wheel. Renault achieved a strong overall performance as Nico Hülkenberg takes 7th position, ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.