Having to navigate difficult conditions due to the rain in Canada, Verstappen praised his Red Bull team for how they navigated the situation. Formula 1 reported what Max had to say:

“Overall, we just had good communication with the team, throughout Q1 and Q2, which I think is the most important and we were clear with what we wanted to do. And in Q3 it kept on raining, and it was very important to be out there quickly and get the laps in.” 

He continued and noted that as a team they just made all the right calls, and that they are now very happy to be on pole. 

Not only does he get to start on pole later this evening, securing this pole position also marks the 25th pole position of Verstappen’s career for which he was awarded his 25th Pirelli Pole Position Award, presented to him by Jean Alesi. 

Red Bull team mate, Perez, had a rather tough time and due to the weather and certain tyre selections fell behind the top ten and managed to secure 12th position on the grid, right behind Charles Leclerc who qualified for 11th with the same difficulties. 

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was unfortunately given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Alpine's Pierre Gasly in qualifying. Gasly was forced to abandon his lap after the incident towards the end of Q1. The penalty sees him drop from eighth to 11th on the race grid, slightly altering the grid. 

The Canadian Grand Prix is set to begin at 20:00 this evening in Montreal at the Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve.

Starting Grid:

1          Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT

2          Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES

3          Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES

4          George Russell MERCEDES

5          Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI

6          Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT

7          Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES

8          Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES

9          Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES

10        Charles Leclerc FERRARI

11        Carlos Sainz FERRARI

12        Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT

13        Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI

14         Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI

15         Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT

16         Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES

17        Nyck De Vries ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT

18        Logan Sargeant WILLIAMS MERCEDES

19        Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT

20        Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI

Kayla Barker/OFM Sport