Verstappen set an early benchmark time of 1m 25.858s in Q3, putting himself on provisional pole ahead of McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri's crash that brought out the red flags at Turn 7. Just moments before the session would have been halted due to Piastri's incident, Hulkenberg managed a remarkable lap time that secured him a spot on the front row.
However, post-session scrutiny by stewards deemed that Hulkenberg had violated red flag regulations and handed him a three-place grid penalty. This dropped him down from second place and promoted Fernando Alonso into third position for Aston Martin.
Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell benefited from Hulkenberg's penalty as well by moving up into third and fourth places respectively.
Esteban Ocon took sixth place for Alpine while Lando Norris secured seventh for McLaren. Carlos Sainz emerged as the fastest Ferrari driver in eighth position after his teammate Charles Leclerc failed to progress beyond Q2 along with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Both Sainz and Stroll were also penalized following qualifying; Sainz was found guilty of impeding Pierre Gasly during Q1 while Stroll hindered Ocon during Q2 phase resulting in their demotions on Sunday’s starting grid.
In changeable conditions during Q2, Alex Albon made the most of soft tires and rose to the top position before heavy rain returned. He ultimately settled for tenth place behind Piastri in the pole shootout.
Leclerc and Perez faced disappointment as they were relegated to 11th and 12th positions on the grid respectively after failing to progress when conditions worsened during Q2. Leclerc expressed his frustration over team radio upon learning his fate.
Home favorite Stroll had a difficult session that included a spin, resulting in him finishing 13th ahead of Kevin Magnussen's Haas and Valtteri Bottas' lead Alfa Romeo.
Both AlphaTauri drivers suffered early elimination in Q1, with Yuki Tsunoda qualifying in 16th place while Nyck de Vries finished in 18th. Gasly endured immense disappointment as he was knocked out of contention by Sainz's impeding incident, relegating him to 17th place on Sunday’s starting grid. Tsunoda also received a three-place penalty for impeding Hulkenberg during qualifying.
Williams driver Logan Sargeant struggled without any upgrades on his car and qualified in last position (19th), while Zhou Guanyu encountered technical issues that hindered his efforts, placing him at the back of the grid in the other Alfa Romeo.
As we head into Sunday's race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, all eyes will be on Verstappen as he aims to convert pole position into another victory this season. However, with penalties reshuffling the grid behind him and unpredictable weather still lingering around Montreal, anything can happen.
