Coming off today’s final practice session, it’s the veterans who have the initial edge in FP3’s wet conditions, with Fernando Alonso leading the pack for Alpine, and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel 0.055secs behind in third. Both drivers have previously won the Grand Prix, Alonso in 2006 and Vettel twice, in 2013, and 2018. Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri splits the pair in second place.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race day, Charles Leclerc’s title hopes to hang in the balance, after being overtaken by Sergio Perez in the standings at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But he’s not helped in Montreal by a 10-place grid penalty the Monegasque driver received after fitting a new Control Electronic between practices one and two yesterday, and a further grid penalty for fitting a new power unit ahead of practice three.
After receiving the first penalty, Leclerc said: “Obviously I’m starting a little bit more in the back. But I think it was the best decision to make, so let’s see how it goes.
“Overtaking was a little bit more difficult that I expected today, but the pace is there, so hopefully we can come back to where we want to be.”
Leclerc now starts at the back of the grid, alongside Yuki Tsunoda, who also added new power unit elements on Friday.
Settle in: just under two hours to go until we find out how the drivers will line up in Montreal.
