Formula 1: Without Leclerc, Alonso was the best in the rain in the last free practice in Canada

When Max Verstappen finished with the best time on Friday at the Canadian Grand Prix, rain broke out in Montreal that continued until this Saturday, characterized by an atypical third test due to the wet track and a tight ranking, as the most important activity of the day, which will start at 5 pm in Argentina. Thus, Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) were the fastest.

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) was the first to dare to drive with wet tires (1: 43.014), followed two and a half seconds later by his teammate, Mick Schumacher, and almost simultaneously with the Alfa Romeos of Chinese Guanyu. Zhou and the Finn Valtteri Bottas, who was unable to lap on Friday due to mechanical problems with his car.

Ferrari followed them. Charles Leclerc, penalized for the change of the engine that will start from the bottom, and Carlos Sainz did not take long to mount the wet tires on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, even without setting times, very far from Max Verstappen’s 1m14.

The problems also forced many to return to the pits. Sainz, for example, went through the exit zone at turn 8, after slipping into the previous corner, while Magnussen went on the grass, which will not help him to maintain the temperature of the tires despite being the one who ran the most at ‘ start of the last training session.

While Checo Pérez got into the Red Bull, and passed a few centimeters from a wall leaving his mechanics speechless, Max Verstappen laughed with Helmut Marko, main advisor, in the paddock without even wearing a helmet. He didn’t need it after being the best Friday.

Sainz was, therefore, the one who improved the records of the ten riders who dared to lap and set times in terrible environmental conditions in the first half hour. When he stopped the clock at 1: 35.858, the Spaniard from Ferrari was two seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

Then, with the data of those who had taken the risk, with some wake and an incipient ray of sunshine, more riders decided to go out, including Verstappen, and another, like the Spaniard Alonso, to use the intermediate wet tires. . Almost simultaneously Vettel set the best time, just 37 thousandths faster than that of the Ferrari driver (1: 35.821), and entered the pits to also put on those tires with the green stripe, like Sainz.

It was a preview of what could happen in the standings and that is why the teams were pleased that Alonso was the first to improve the times with the intermediates and then Vettel scored a 1: 33.891, 338 thousandths better than the Spaniard, who then lowered it by 55 (1: 33.836) to keep the best record. Pierre Gasly entered between them for two thousandths.

At the end of the tests Magnussen and Verstappen went off the track and made fear of a possible accident, but the two avoided the walls and were able to protect their cars for qualifying, which without Leclerc with the possibility of pole – because he will divide the last row with Yuki Tsunoda penalized – he will have the Dutchman as favorite.