Verstappen on pole in wet Canada ahead of Hülkenberg

Intermittently heavy rain fell on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve all afternoon, making track conditions difficult to read and putting a premium on being on track at the right time on the right tyre.

The circuit had briefly been dry enough for slick tyres in Q2, but rain clouds were regathering in the area for the start of the pole shootout, forcing the field back onto wet-weather rubber and creating a rush to set a lap time before conditions worsened.

Verstappen easily set the benchmark at 1 minute 25.858 seconds, and five minutes into the session Nico Hülkenberg rotated into second place.

He seemed sure to lose the place, with all other drivers on personal-best laps, but the session was suspended two seconds after he crossed the line when Oscar Piastri crashed his McLaren at turn 7.

The Australian spun his car backwards into the barrier exiting the corner, damaging his rear-right corner in the first damaging accident of his rookie season.

The suspension was brief, but heavy rain returned to the track before action resumed. When the cars returned to the track, conditions were too wet for any driver to improve, confirming Verstappen’s fifth pole of the season.

“In the wet you just have to stay on top of all the conditions,” he said.

“We just made all the right calls at the right time at the track to do the lap times, so I’m very happy to be on pole.”

But Hülkenberg was the biggest winner in second, his best qualifying result since starting on the front row at the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix, then as a Force India driver.

It was the second race in months Haas had strategised a driver to a strong qualifying result, having put Kevin Magnussen on pole in São Paulo last season.

“It was a wild quali,” Hülkenberg said. “It was crazy. Changing conditions are tricky, especially around here with the walls so close.

“Obviously this is a bit unexpected. We can be very happy and proud the team did a solid job. It as super smooth, so I’m very happy.”

Fernando Alonso qualified third, and the Aston Martin driver thought he might eb close enough to give Verstappen a run for victory on Sunday.

“I think tomorrow we have a chance to put some pressure,” he said. “Hopefully tomorrow they have to push a little bit more.”

Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes teammate George Russell to fourth and fifth, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon will start sixth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Carlos Sainz was the best-placed Ferrari driver in eighth but will face a stewards investigation for blocking Thai driver Alex Albon early in qualifying in what is likely to result in a grid penalty.

Piastri was ninth fastest ahead of Albon, who didn’t set a time before the red flag to qualifying 10^th.

Charles Leclerc missed a place in the top-10 shootout for the second weekend in a row after Ferrari denied him an early switch from wet-weather tyres to slicks as the track dried.

By the time the team relented, Leclerc had missed the brief dry window on a very wet day, leaving him without a chance to qualify higher than 11^th.

Sergio Pérez had his third successive qualifying nightmare to qualify 12^th, having started 10tth and 11^th in the last two rounds.

The Mexican couldn’t get temperature into his tyres, which meant he never pieced together a clean lap to progress into Q3.

Home favourite Lance Stroll spun his was to 13^th ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda qualified 16^th but is under investigation for impeding Leclerc and Hulkenberg in the tricky conditions.

Pierre Gasly will also see the stewards after qualifying a frustrated 17^th, the Frenchman having been blocked on his final flying lap by Sainz in the last chicane.

Gasly had to sail his Alpine through the run-off zone after coming just centimetres from collecting the Ferrari car, which forced his elimination in Q1.

Rookies Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant qualified 18^th and 19^th, while Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu completed a troubled session in 20^th, having earlier stopped on track with a systems problem.