Canada, FP3: Alonso tops wet final practice session in Montreal

Gasly 2nd, Vettel 3rd

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso topped a wet final practice session at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel as both Red Bull and Ferrari finished down the order.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was first out on the wet track, on extreme wets, and the Danish driver put the first time on the board with a lap of 1:43.014. He was joined by a seque3nd3 of cars undertaking exploratory installation laps, including the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Leclerc was running with a third set of control electronics, a switch that means he will take a 10-place grid drop for Sunday’s race for exceeding the two units permitted for the season.

While most of the early runners headed back to their garages after a single lap, AlphTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, also a facing a grid penalty, stayed out and as Magnussen worked his way down to 1:39.148, Tsunoda took second place with a lap of 1:42.030.

As the 10-minute mark approached, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel took over in P2 with a lap of 1:41.532. Tsunoda then improved to 1:39.461 before Vettel improved to 1:39.606 to hold third ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll. Vettel wasn’t finished, however, and as the session hit the quarter-hour mark he rose to P1 with a lap of 1:39.041, a tenth clear of Magnussen The German’s stay was brief, however, as two minutes later Tsunoda again took top spot, this time by a sizeable amount thanks to a lap of 1:38.262. Vettel responded to reach 1:38.294, just three hundredths of a second off the Japanese driver’s pace.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas then jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:37.909 and Aston Martin’s Canadian driver slotted into P2, two tenths of a second off the Finn.

Just after the 20 minute mark Sainz reappeared and this time the Ferrari driver completed more than just a single lap and he rose to the top of the timesheet thanks to a lap of 1:36.831. He then quickly lowered his own benchmark to 1:35.858 to stretch the gap to Bottas to just over two seconds. Leclerc also rejoined the action but the Monegasque driver again opted to just test the conditions and though he posted five laps in the session, the Ferrari driver failed to set a time.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was the next to climb the leaderboard and the two-time champion vaulted to second place behind Sainz with a lap of 1:36.074 and though the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez finally emerged at 35 minutes neither set a time.

Instead it was Vettel who once jumped to the top of the timesheet, with the German setting a time of 1:35.821s with 20 minutes to go.

Alonso, though, was getting more comfortable with the conditions and as the final 10 minutes arrived the Alpine driver again claimed top stop with a lap of 1:33.836 as intermediates became the preferred tyres.

That should have left Vettel with second place but in the final moments AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took second with a lap of 1:33.889, five hundredths of a second behind Alonso.

Alonso’s Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon finished fourth, with the McLaren pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively. Mercedes’ George Russell finished seventh ahead of Pérez and Verstappen and the top 10 was rounded out by Sainz.