00:01It is really, really tight between going out and going through, and certainly the drivers, Ocon, Gasly, they're looking over
00:08their shoulders.
00:09So is Piastri as well, who continued to run out there. He did not come in for new tyres, so
00:14he continued to push on.
00:16They're queuing up here. If you need an improvement, this is not what you want to see on the circuit.
00:20It's not what Pierre Gasly wants to see. They're fighting for track position when they're trying to set one lap
00:25pace,
00:26and the Alpines having to take an excursion over the road, trying to find a piece of tarmac.
00:31Who gets over the line in time, and who is done? Magnussen up to P7, his session is done, everyone
00:38else has a chance to respond,
00:40but they're fighting over track position at the end there. Bottas up to 7th, Alonso comes over the line with
00:44the fastest time.
00:45Gasly's lap was impeded, Ocon trying to get through at his teammate's expense. Can he do it as he comes
00:52across the line?
00:52He can. He's up to 5th place. Gasly in the drop zone.
00:56Gasly's stuffed. He's absolutely stuffed. He came over Carlos Sainz, who will pick up a penalty, I'm sure.
01:01Sainz was dithering in the road.
01:03Oh, lock-up, lock-up there for Joe Aydon. He makes the corner. Hamilton goes up to 3rd.
01:07De Vries is out. He couldn't improve. Gasly is out as well. Across the line goes Joe to go up
01:13to 18th,
01:13but he's heading out of the session. Piastri's decision to stay on the intermediate tyre paying off.
01:19He moves forward. Russell goes to 4th. Gasly, De Vries, Joe Tsunoda, and Sargent, can Yuki Tsunoda change that?
01:27Can he find a way out of the drop zone, having been wearing away at these intermediate tyres?
01:32Stand on the throttle. Take it up through the gears. Can he turn last into 15th at least?
01:37That's what he's looking for. No! He just misses out by 16 thousandths of a second.
01:43That is going to be Sainz impeding there, surely. It was tough already with the Alfa Tauri coming through,
01:50and then Gasly almost just swipes into the back of him, and Carlos there is just bang on the racing
01:56line.
01:57Should be burned for such a thing. I'm coming at 300, like what the hell is that thing?
02:02And it's Tsunoda. He's old teammate Gasly. He's current teammate De Vries. Sargent and Joe.
02:09It really was. Step forward or head out.
02:15Wow. No way has he kept that out of the wall.
02:19Lance Stroll playing one of his jokers for the season.
02:23How has he not painted down the barrier?
02:26Wow. He's just flicked the front wing then into the barrier, but I think you'll get away with even that.
02:33Yeah, it's raining here a bit.
02:35Alvin goes over the line with the fastest time. He asks for the slick tyre before anyone else in the
02:40field.
02:41He delivers the lap time, and if it starts raining now, Williams are once again reading wet conditions nicely.
02:48Russell and Alonso are still out there on intermediates.
02:51Alonso is going quickly on those inters, though.
02:53Here he is, fastest through the first sector. He's decent through the middle.
02:56Comes into the final corner, turns in. He's going to just lock in for the inters and hope that there
03:01is some rain coming.
03:02This is a bold call from Aston Martin, because pretty much everyone else out there, there's five drivers on intermediates.
03:08Hamilton is 13th and still on inters as well.
03:11If it doesn't rain, they could be left in the lurch here.
03:14OK, watch Norris' next lap. That's the one we're looking at.
03:16It's raining. It's raining. Extraordinary stuff in Montreal.
03:22Alex Albon could book his place in Q3, but there's a Ferrari, a car's whipped away off the racing line.
03:28He's got the tyre temperature. He's got the grip. He's got the fastest middle sector.
03:32What a gamble from Williams. What a gamble from Alexander Albon.
03:36Faster than the rest of the field by a second.
03:38Hamilton is the car ahead, and he's just got himself up into the top five.
03:42So Lewis has dug out a lap. What about Lando Norris, then, on the soft tyre?
03:46I'm watching it on the timing page. It's third fastest.
03:50Piastri's just gone into fourth position. Williams fastest. Red Bull second with the championship leader.
03:55Then McLaren, three and four. Rain in the air. Slick tyres on the cars.
03:59Heavier rain in two to three minutes.
04:01Perez has bolted on inters. Perez didn't like those slick tyres.
04:05He's gone for inters, and others on the slicks are improving.
04:09Albon stays top. Verstappen second. Norris and Piastri now on soft tyres at third and fourth.
04:13Perez was out there on the right tyre at the right time, but he's come back for the intermediate.
04:21It's raining harder now.
04:22Sergio Perez admits defeat. This is his worst run in qualifying since 2019.
04:28To leave his team principal, Christian Horner, shaking his head.
04:32One Red Bull in second. One Red Bull in twelfth.
04:35No one able to improve out there.
04:37Charles Leclerc heading out along with Sergio Perez, and Leclerc asks for slicks.
04:42The team said, set your time on inters, and there's no grip to be found out there for the Monagas
04:47driver,
04:48who will head out in the second part of qualifying.
04:51Yeah, tyres were not ready. Come on!
04:55Leclerc out. Perez out. Stroll as well.
04:57The home favourite, Magnussen, after a wonderful practice earlier on where he was fourth.
05:02Exits in 14th place, and Valtteri Bottas puts 15th on the board at this circuit.
05:10Fernando Alonso is going faster behind in the early stage of the lap.
05:14We'll keep you updated with that. Throw it into the final chicane.
05:18This might be the only chance you get in Q3.
05:20Max Verstappen throws the time down to the rest of the field.
05:24It's a 1.27.0 to beat.
05:26Does anyone have an answer to that man?
05:29Fernando Alonso is fastest in the middle sector.
05:32Ocon goes over the line in second position.
05:35We wait now to see what Hülkenberg can do.
05:38Car 27 at the Circuit Shield Villeneuve.
05:40Up to third position.
05:41So they're in order that they're setting the time.
05:43But it's this man who is absolutely majestic through the final corner.
05:47A man who hasn't been on pole since 2012.
05:50Can he head to the front of the field?
05:51No! He just misses out by two tenths of a second.
05:54So it is that balance between improving and keeping it within the white lines.
05:59Hamilton across the line. Hamilton to third.
06:02Superb stuff there at the end of his lap when he really needed it in the final few sectors.
06:07Hamilton was majestic there as he came across the line.
06:10His teammate George Russell goes into fourth.
06:12And we're excited. We're animated about this because it might be the only chance that they get.
06:17Take two. Yellow flag is out in the middle part of the lap.
06:20At the final part of the lap, Verstappen trying to take it across the line
06:24and take it away from the field.
06:25What a mighty improvement for the reigning world champion.
06:281.4 seconds ahead and Oscar Piastri finds the barriers.
06:34And that, I think, might end this session.
06:37Affected me. Seven minutes left on the clock if Piastri's hit the wall.
06:40Hulkenberg improves to second place before the red flag came out.
06:44No, no. I can see now.
06:46Sorry. Sorry about that.
06:51Yeah, just desperate to get on the throttle.
06:54Had a little play and then went harder on the gas.
06:57There's a short straight coming up after it and it's quite important.
06:59And just too much right pedal there for Piastri.
07:03Slam into the barriers that greets you right there on the exit.
07:07It's a lot wetter already.
07:09It's very wet out here.
07:11It's almost extremes.
07:13Conditions are impossible.
07:17Hulkenberg last on the front row in 2016 at the Austrian Grand Prix.
07:23The rain is too heavy.
07:25There is no improvement to be found out there.
07:27The timing of the red flag crucial.
07:29Hulkenberg did the lap time though.
07:31He stepped forward at the vital moment.
07:33A 25th career pole for Max Verstappen.
07:37A 3rd front row for Nico Hulkenberg.
07:40And Fernando Alonso completes the top three.
07:43He's there once again this season.
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