Canadian GP: Max Verstappen anticipates 'surprises' in qualifying with heavy rain expected

Max Verstappen is anticipating plenty of surprises in qualifying for the Canadian GP with Saturday evening's session set to be rain-affected.

The world championship leader was surprisingly off the pace in Friday's only true practice session - Practice One having been curtailed by CCTV issues at the circuit - as he finished sixth while Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez was eighth.

Verstappen finished four tenths of a second off the pace set by Mercedes in Practice Two, as Lewis Hamilton topped George Russell, while the Dutchman was also behind both Ferrari cars and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin.

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Verstappen admitted Red Bull "didn't have a good day" on a circuit finding the few "limitations" of the RB19, and with wet weather forecast throughout Saturday - qualifying takes place at 9pm UK time - he is predicting a shaken-up grid for Sunday's race.

"(Saturday) is going to be very wet so that normally always brings a few surprises in qualifying and we will see what the weather will do on Sunday," he said.

"We still have a bit of work to do. The car is not fantastic at the moment over the bumps, over the kerbs. I mean, it's still not too bad, but we definitely need to fine-tune a few things.

"I think we didn't have a good day, maybe they (Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin) had a good day.

"We know our limitations with the car and probably on the track like it is now with the bumps and the kerbs, it's definitely not suiting our package for now. But we will try to find a few improvements."

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Perez echoed Verstappen's thoughts that Red Bull have plenty of improvements to make heading into Saturday.

"I think we have a good base and we just have to make sure we play a bit with the car," Perez said.

"There is plenty for us to understand. Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin are looking good. We need to improve our ride as well."

More to come from Ferrari but Leclerc feeling positive

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Ferrari are the only team to arrive in Montreal with no updates to their car but the Italian team enjoyed a fruitful Friday as Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished third and fifth respectively.

Sainz led his team-mate at the top of the timesheet for much of Practice Two until the two Mercedes went fastest when completing their qualifying simulations later in the session than other teams.

Fernando Alonso then also slotted in between the two Ferraris, but his fellow Spaniard Sainz expects to have more performance on Saturday having not felt comfortable in the SF23 despite his good pace.

Sainz said: "We had a decent Friday. I'm still not feeling 100 per cent at home with the car, especially under braking I was struggling quite a bit, which we start to understand why now and we will try to make changes for (Saturday).

"We didn't get it right with a couple of settings. We will try and get them better for (Saturday) and I'm sure we will be more competitive.

"We just need to make sure we nail all the sessions from now on. It will be tricky with the tyres always here between extreme (wets), inters, dry - the track dries pretty quickly. I think it's going to be a challenging day and it will be all about making no mistakes and getting through it."

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Leclerc has struggled to gain confidence in his car this season and last time out in Barcelona suffered a Q1 exit and point-less finish having been plagued by handling issues.

But the Monegasque enjoyed a positive start to the Canadian GP weekend with it being one of the most comfortable sessions he has experienced so far in 2023.

"In terms of feeling, it's among the good Fridays for us. I had a really, really good feeling with the car, so that's positive," Leclerc said.

"(Saturday) will be a completely new day and honestly I don't think there's much that we can bring from (Friday) to (Saturday), as it's going to rain probably. It's going to be very interesting, but it's been a positive Friday."

"[The long runs were] really good, so that's positive. But it's only Friday, so we need to wait and see. The feeling was good, pace looked really good. It's been a positive Friday, now we just need to have a clean qualifying in very tricky conditions and then see what's possible on Sunday."

Aston Martin lacking data on car upgrades

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Aston Martin were one of the teams to suffer most from Practice One being limited to just four minutes of track action as it cost them crucial laps to evaluate their major upgrade for Montreal.

The Silverstone-based team have brought a new sidepod design and updates to their floor and Alonso was frustrated at being unable to get a true read of their performance.

The Spaniard ended the day fifth in the timesheet, three tenths off Hamilton's leading time having completed his qualifying simulations at a similar time to the Silver Arrows.

Sky Sports F1's David Croft said: "I just get the feeling Mercedes are in the hunt with Aston Martin, who probably don't understand perfectly the set-up on their car as yet with the new upgrades.

"Ferrari showing pace, and genuine pace over one lap. And for once, Verstappen and Perez are a bit off the pace."

Sky Sports F1's live Canadian GP schedule

Saturday June 17
5.15pm: Canadian GP Practice Three (session starts at 5.30pm)
8pm: Canadian GP Qualifying build-up
9pm: Canadian GP Qualifying
11pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Sunday June 18
5.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Canadian GP build-up
6:55pm: The Grandstand with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett (via red button)
7pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
9pm: Chequered Flag Canadian GP reaction
10pm: Ted's Notebook