2026 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
2 days ago
2 min read

After a dramatic Sprint earlier in the day, who would come out on top in a key Qualifying session ahead of a rain-threatened Canadian Grand Prix?

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, and Valtteri Bottas were the six slowest drivers! Esteban Ocon massively struggled for pace in comparison to his Haas teammate, suffering a disappointing Q1 exit, whilst the exact same could be said about Williams’ Alex Albon! Fernando Alonso managed to beat Sergio Perez to P19 in the battle between Aston Martin and Cadillac, whilst both Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas had shockers, being miles off the pace of their teammates! Andrea Kimi Antonelli was back on top for Mercedes in Q1, over a tenth clear of Lando Norris’ McLaren!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, and Oliver Bearman all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Of course, Nico Hulkenberg was always going to qualify P11, whilst Liam Lawson missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 4 hundredths of a second! The midfield battle is so tight! Gabriel Bortoleto will start from 13th in the other Audi, ahead of Pierre Gasly’s damaged Alpine, whilst Carlos Sainz seemed disappointed with only qualifying 15th! As he should! Oliver Bearman was ultimately slowest in Q2, with Haas’ upgrades seemingly not working to great effect! Amazingly, it was Isack Hadjar who topped Q2 for Red Bull, with Lewis Hamilton making it four different cars in the Top 2 positions (between Q1 and Q2)!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a fabulous 1:12.578 was enough for George Russell to snatch another Pole Position around Canada! This was the definition of leaving it to the last second, with George struggling for a lot of Qualifying, only to pull out a massive lap when it counted the most! Andrea Kimi Antonelli once again had to settle for second, being 68 thousandths off his teammate for the second time this weekend, whilst Lando Norris continued his Top 3 streak! Oscar Piastri continues his weekend of P4’s, ahead of a disappointed Lewis Hamilton, whilst a disgruntled Max Verstappen could only manage 6th! However, Verstappen was able to outqualify his teammate, and that’s actually pretty frustrating if you’re Isack Hadjar, as the Frenchman had an awful lot more pace that he failed to show in Q3! Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, seemingly has no pace this weekend, whilst Arvid Lindblad managed to beat Franco Colapinto to the position of “Best of the Rest”!