Qualifying Highlights | 2022 Canadian Grand Prix

In two of the last three races, Charles Leclerc has retired from the lead of the race and it has been power unit problems that have caused those DNFs. As a result, he takes a brand new power unit for this race and will start at the back of the grid. Yuki Tsunoda is another to take extra elements. He will start at the back, too. Fedelonian 16th. Behind comes the Alpine, Fernando Alonso, and almost hitting the wall of champions as he slid his way out the final corner. Goes second fastest. Pierre Gasly crosses the line and he's not out of the bottom five either. And he has taken the chequered flag. Daniel Ricciardo goes eighth fastest, puts himself out of trouble. So Vettel will get another lap. He crossed the line before the flag dropped. And what an important lap. We thought he'd be fighting over the top few places after free practice this morning. The pace so far has disappeared for Aston Martin, sadly. And this qualifying session has ended for Pierre Gasly, who crossed the line with the chequered flag flying and he is out of qualifying. Meanwhile, Nicholas Latifi is fighting that Williams all the way down the main straight to try and get himself out of the bottom five for the first time this year. And sadly, at his home race, Nicholas Latifi can't get out of the bottom five again. That's massive disappointment for him. Meanwhile, Leclerc, Albon, Seitz have all been noted by the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly. I don't know how you can do that in these conditions. How slow is slow, quite frankly, as we look to see Sebastian Vettel not improving his times necessarily on his latest lap. And also Lance Stroll setting not the best first sector either. But he's taken the chequered flag. He is definitely out of qualifying. So it's Vettel, really, the only one that can do something to improve his position and get out of the bottom five. This is going to be a hugely disappointing qualifying for Aston Martin. If he can't, Vettel crosses the line. No good. OK, mate, chequered flag. I'm sorry, but we are out. Oh, can't be. I mean, what was that? So different to this morning. So different. Had no grip. Felt like the rear left was broken, man. Oh, man! Vettel and Stroll both out, along with Tsunoda and Gasly and Latifi. Alex Albon has crashed out of it. That is the state of the Williams up against the barriers. So he's locked the right front, then both fronts, and actually no harm done. They kept it going. Oh, and that is Sergio Perez. And he's gone into the Tech Pro barrier a little bit harder. What happened to Sergio Perez? It's like we say, it gets tricky. You go onto the intermediate tyres and the grip that was there now isn't. And that is a fair clonk into the Tech Pro barrier. So he's locked on the way in and smartly realised he's got to straighten the car up just at the last moment. He is out of this qualifying session, Sergio Perez. We've got the red flag. Perez isn't going to go any further in this session. He'll be starting 15th in this race. Norris is out of qualifying. So that's Leclerc, Norris, Perez all out of this qualifying session. Albon and Hamilton currently in that drop zone. Yeah, I can say, look out for Lewis, but he's done a personal best. Decent first sector as well has Lewis. Alonso goes fastest. He's been quickest in many stages so far. Bottas, 7th fastest. He's on the cusp. Kevin Magnussen goes into the top five. Bottas now down to 8th and the chequered flag is out. Fernando Alonso was the first to take that chequered flag. So Alonso, Magnussen and Bottas, all three of them, they're qualifying and they'll wait to see if they can come out in Q3. George Russell will be next to cross the line. Actually, Joe Guainu goes 5th fastest. Then Russell crosses the line to go 2nd behind Fernando Alonso. What, though, of Russell's teammate at Mercedes? Lewis Hamilton goes 4th fastest. Six poles previously, Hamilton's put himself into Q3 for a chance once again as Alex Albon misses out by seven one hundredths of a second. And Valtteri Bottas takes the chequered flag. He's the one at risk at the moment. As Verstappen goes fastest overall. Esteban Ocon, two personal bests through the first two sectors here. He could knock Valtteri Bottas out of qualifying right at the end of this Q2 session. The Alpine of Fernando Alonso is second fastest. Esteban Ocon crosses the line now to go into the top ten and push Valtteri Bottas out of it. McSchumacher into Q3 once again. We lost Bottas, Albon, Perez, Norris and Leclerc. On board with Verstappen as Joe Guarni crosses the line in fifth and now sixth as Verstappen, a 1.22.7. That's 1.3 seconds clear of George Russell. Carlos Sainz next to cross the line, puts his Ferrari on the front row. Two former career front rows for Carlos Sainz. It could be a third here at the moment as Alonso now crosses the line and goes third fastest behind Sainz. It's 1.1 seconds between Verstappen and Sainz. That's a big gap to park some Formula 1 cars in. I was going to say, question is, is it the right time for the slick tyres? Can George Russell compete with that Red Bull? But it just wouldn't turn in. Tyres too cold. So it's all about the breaking point for the final chicane. The Red Bull's quick in a straight line. The Ferrari's been a little bit faster recently than it was. But Verstappen, a great exit. Never qualified on pole on the front row here in Montreal. Verstappen goes quicker. 1.21.2. That's the benchmark for Carlos Sainz to try and get above. He almost lost it out of the final turn. And he did lose enough time, sadly, to once again just fall within one place of a first pole in Formula 1. Sainz on the front row. Hamilton P3. And look at that, sliding his way out of the final corner. Dramatic finale from Fernando Alonso, who goes on to the front row. Brilliant effort from Fernando Alonso. And boy, oh boy, does a sell-out Montreal crowd absolutely love that. You are pole. Well, not bad, but it was tricky conditions, mate. No, that was... Yeah, I won't say it last class, but you were on top of that pole session. Nice job. Fernando Alonso at the age of 40. He's 41 next month. Has put his car on the front row. Well deserved. Yeah, super, super driving.