By Steve Keating
MONTREAL (Reuters) – Championship leader Max Verstappen lapped fastest in a rain-hit final practice for the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday as normal service returned to Formula One with Red Bull back on top of the time sheets.
After placing well down the order during Friday’s two sessions, Verstappen delivered a sparkling lap on a gloomy day, posting a best time of one minute 23.106 seconds around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Leclerc finished 0.291 seconds behind Verstappen but it was not all good news for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz spinning hard into the wall midway through the session, ripping the nose off his car and bringing out the red flags.
There were none of the technical glitches that caused Friday’s opening practice to be reduced to just five minutes when CCTV cameras malfunctioned, triggering safety concerns but cool, breezy and rainy weather created other challenges.
After Lewis Hamilton and George Russell put Mercedes top of the time sheets in an extended second practice session on Friday it was a miserable day for the two Britons.
Hamilton, who has said how much he loves the rain, placed 10th and Russell 15th.
Haas performed well with Kevin Magnussen clocking the fourth best time ahead of Sainz.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixth best followed by Canadian hope Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin in seventh.
Yuki Tsunoda had a wild session, twice spinning, but on both occasions he managed to keep his AlphaTauri out of the barriers to place eighth.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Montreal, Editing by Ed Osmond)
