F1 2023: Verstappen takes Canada GP pole as Hulkenberg's penalty costs him front-row start

For the ninth round of the 2023 season, Formula One heads to the 4.361 km long Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec for the Canadian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton currently holds the title for the most wins at the Canadian GP. With a total of seven wins, the Mercedes driver jointly holds the first position along with F1 racing legend Michael Schumacher.
It was Reigning World Champion and current Championship leader Max Verstappen who took pole position for the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix as wet weather conditions dominated Saturday’s qualifying session, with Nico Hulkenberg a surprise second for Haas, only to lose the position later in the evening for a red flag breach.

Take a look at how the 2023 Canadian GP Qualifying went down -
2023 F1 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying 1
Q1 was red flagged with 15 minutes to go after an incident involving Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo which faced some technical issues, however, action was soon resumed. Max Verstappen went fastest in Q1, leading ahead of Fernando Alonso in P2. Tsunoda, Gasly, de Vries, Sargeant, and Zhou were eliminated from the first qualifying.
2023 F1 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying 2
By the time of Q2, the track was almost dry, allowing drivers to go out on slicks. However, the rain was back with drivers having to switch back to inters. It was Alex Albon who managed to go the fastest in the second qualifying after taking advantage of the tricky weather and coming out on slicks at the right moment. Leclerc, Perez, Stroll, Magnussen and Bottas did not make it to the final qualifying.

2023 F1 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying 3
Q3 started in rain, and it was Oscar Piastri who ended up in the walls early on, resulting in red flags. At the end Max Verstappen managed to secure the Pole position after going the fastest in Q3, with Hulkenberg joining him in a surprise P2 finish. Fernando Alonso finished third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in P4 and P5 respectively. Ocon, Norris, Sainz and Albon finished from sixth to tenth respectively.
However, it was later announced that Hulkenberg lost his front-row start at the Canada GP after landing a three-place grid penalty for red flag breach. Apart from Hulkenberg, Sainz, Tsunoda and Stroll were also handed a three-place grid penalties after the qualifying in Montreal.
Stay tuned to TOI Auto for the 2023 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix race report tomorrow!