Lewis Hamilton has vowed to give Fernando Alonso “hell” at the Canadian Grand Prix after qualifying on the second row of the grid. Hamilton secured P4 on Saturday afternoon after maximising the mixed wet/dry conditions as others faltered.
He will start behind Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg but clearly has his eyes set on a podium. He said: “We are ahead of the Ferraris. Max will be gone most likely, But if I can hold onto Alonso and give him hell that’s what I’ll do.”
Verstappen set the early pace in Q3, topping the leaderboards after his first two laps in the final session. The Dutchman enjoyed a comfortable 1.3-second advantage over Nico Hulkenberg moments before the session was stopped.
Qualifying was red-flagged after McLaren’s Oscar Piastri lost control on the exit of turn seven, spinning his rear tyres and colliding with the wall.
There were fears drivers would not be able to improve their times as rain continued to fall, worsening the conditions. Despite the session resuming just minutes later, their efforts were futile with no one able to improve their lap time.
As conditions worsened, most drivers pitted to protect their cars with Verstappen cruising to his fifth pole position of 2023. Team-mate George Russell will start the race on the third row of the grid in P5.
After the session, Hamilton stressed it was a “good result” for the team in Montreal. It comes after the German squad introduced a series of new upgrades at the Monaco Grand Prix including a new floor and updated sidepod.
He added: “I think most people underestimate how hard it was out there for everybody. It was really hard to keep the car on track and deliver when the time counts.
“It was very very slippery, it was really difficult to generate temperature in the tyres but yeah that’s a great result for George and I as well. Hopefully from there we can move forwards.
“We should be in a much better position for race pace. Our race pace is often better and I’m hoping it is tomorrow. It’s difficult to gauge yesterday because we did our long run at the beginning of the session when the track was a lot slower.”
