Home F1 Canadian GP: Verstappen fastest in wet FP3 as Sainz crashes out

Canadian GP: Verstappen fastest in wet FP3 as Sainz crashes out

17/06/2023

Max Verstappen ended up fastest in a wet FP3 of F1 Canadian GP from Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso.

It was a wet FP3 for F1 Canadian GP in Montreal as full wets were choice of tyre to start the running. It was the first time for them to use the full wets tyre without the tyre blanket. But as the session progressed, they switched to the intermediate compound.

Amid several moments, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the way with a 1m23.106s lap from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The Dutchman had downshift troubles early on but did well to set a good lap time eventually.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was fourth from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who brought out the red flag just over midway in the session. He ran on the white line of the circuit and spun off onto the barrier at Turn 1 with damage to both the front end and also the rear.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixth where he had a moment early on, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in seventh. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was eighth after his two spins at separate times but unscathed at both occasions to set a good lap time.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was ninth with a lose right mirror towards the end of the session. He held it with one hand for most part while returning into the pits. The Top 10 was rounded out by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who also had a Turn 1 moment.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was 11th after taking an older power unit from his pool, with the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in 12th and 13th. Williams’ Alexander Albon was 14th after some frustrating moment behind Sainz early on.

There will be a stewards visit for the Spaniard along with the Thai for impeding. Mercedes’ George Russell was only 15th from AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez only 17th. The Mexican too had a Turn 1 moment as did Albon.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 18th from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who ran over the grass too, while Williams’ Logan Sargeant rounded out the 20 runners. The last few minutes of the session saw no running due to heavy rain coming down.

In terms of the PU elements, Gasly took a new set of ICE, TC, MGU-H and MGU-K, with Hulkenberg taking a new MGU-K too after losing an engine on Friday. The Frenchman now has used all the four ICEs that is allowed per driver.