Verstappen sets the biggest ever Montreal pole margin, Sainz qualifies outside of the top five for the first time in 2023 and it’s Groundhog Day for Magnussen. Here’s a statistic from each driver’s 2023 Canadian Grand Prix weekend!
🇳🇱 Max VERSTAPPEN
Max Verstappen equalled Ayrton Senna’s number of Formula 1 wins at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. Verstappen became the sixth driver to take poles at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in successive seasons and the fourth – after Alan Jones, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to win consecutive races at the track.
On his way to becoming the fifth driver to have won 20 World Championship races from pole position, Verstappen became the fifth driver to have led 200 consecutive laps in Formula 1 (the first driver to do so since Sebastian Vettel in 2012) and the fifth – after Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and Sebastian Vettel – to have led every lap at three consecutive races.
Max Verstappen secured the 25th pole position of his career by 1.244 seconds. It was the largest pole margin since Nico Rosberg took pole for the 2014 British Grand Prix by 1.620 seconds and the largest pole margin ever seen at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Verstappen picked up points for the 27th consecutive race weekend, equalling the longest points-scoring streak of Kimi Raikkonen’s career. It put him third in the list of the longest points streaks in Formula 1.
🇲🇽 Sergio PEREZ
For the first time since the end of the 2019 season, Sergio Perez failed to qualify in the top ten for a third successive race at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. From ten appearances at the Canadian Grand Prix, Perez has reached Q3 only three times: in 2015, 2017 and 2018. With his Q2 elimination, Perez extends the record for most Q2 exits in Canada to six.
Perez finished the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix in sixth place. Failing to finish on the podium for the third race in a row, this is now his longest streak without a podium since the 2022 Austrian, French and Hungarian Grands Prix. This was the first time since 2017 that Perez scored points at the Canadian Grand Prix.
🇲🇨 Charles LECLERC
Charles Leclerc’s third place in qualifying for the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix remains the only time he has reached Q3 in Montreal. In 2023, he recorded his third Q2 exit from his four appearances at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
With fourth place in the race, Leclerc recorded his best result since finishing on the podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Along with Esteban Ocon, Leclerc equalled Gilles Villeneuve as the driver to have made the most appearances without failing to score in Montreal.
🇪🇸 Carlos SAINZ
Qualifying eighth, the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix is the first race of the year at which Carlos Sainz qualified outside of the top five. He remains the only driver to qualify in the top eight at every race in 2023, though he drops to 11th on the grid following a 3-place grid penalty for impeding. Fernando Alonso is the only other driver to reach Q3 at all eight races in the 2023 season.
After qualifying outside of the top five for the first time in the 2023 season, Carlos Sainz finished fifth in the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. This was the fourth time in the last five races that Sainz finished fifth.
🇬🇧 Lewis HAMILTON
Qualifying in fourth place, Lewis Hamilton maintained his record of qualifying in the top five on every Canadian Grand Prix appearance to date. Hamilton recorded consecutive podium results for the first time in 2023 and, finishing third, equalled Jean Alesi and Eddie Irvine as the driver to have recorded the most third place finishes at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. This was his third time finishing in third place in Canada.
🇬🇧 George RUSSELL
With fifth place, George Russell recorded his best Canadian Grand Prix qualifying result to date. However, after hitting the wall in the race, Russell became the second retirement from the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. This was Russell’s second retirement of the 2023 season, after the Australian Grand Prix. He became the first Mercedes driver to retire in Montreal since Lewis Hamilton retired with mechanical issues back in 2014. Russell recorded the first retirement for a driver starting fourth on the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix since Fernando Alonso in 2008.
🇫🇷 Esteban OCON
Esteban Ocon maintained both his 100% Q3 rate and 100% points rate at the Canadian Grand Prix. Ocon’s qualifying position at the Canadian Grand Prix has improved by one position on each of his four visits to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Sixth was his best Saturday result at the track to date.
Finishing in eighth place and scoring four points, Ocon overtook Romain Grosjean as the French driver to have scored the second-most points in Formula 1.
🇫🇷 Pierre GASLY
After encountering traffic at the end of Q1 – on a lap which Alpine estimated would have put him sixth – Pierre Gasly was out in the first stage of qualifying at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. From his four visits to the Canadian Grand Prix, this was the third time that Gasly was eliminated in Q1. 17th is Gasly’s worst qualifying attempt at the venue to date.
🇬🇧 Lando NORRIS
Lando Norris recorded his best Montreal qualifying result to date at the Canadian Grand Prix with seventh place. His previous best result was eighth, in 2019. Norris remains yet to score any points at the Canadian Grand Prix during his F1 career. He finished in the top on the road, but a five-second time penalty saw him drop to 13th in the final order.
🇦🇺 Oscar PIASTRI
Though he crashed out in Q3, Oscar Piastri equalled his best qualifying result to date with ninth place. He also qualified ninth at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Having also reached Q3 last time out in Spain, this the first time Piastri reached Q3 at consecutive races.
Piastri joined Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon them in the club of drivers who’ve never missed out on reaching Q3 at the Canadian Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya, Mick Schumacher and Nico Rosberg are the only other drivers who’ve reached Q3 on every appearance at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
In the race, Piastri finished 11th. It’s the third consecutive Canadian Grand Prix in which a McLaren driver finished 11th, as the team continued their now decade-long point-less streak in Montreal.
🇫🇮 Valtteri BOTTAS
Valtteri Bottas failed to reach Q3 at the Canadian Grand Prix for only the second time in his career. He qualified 15th, four positions down on where he qualified in 2022. Bottas finished tenth in the race, making this the 418th Grand Prix in which a Finnish driver picked up a point. That saw Finland overtake Italy as the nation to have scored in the fifth-most Formula 1 races.
This was the first time Bottas has scored since the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix and the eighth consecutive Canadian Grand Prix in which the Finn has scored. Bottas’ tenth place marked the first time in 2023 that the driver starting 14th scored a point in a Grand Prix.
🇨🇳 ZHOU Guanyu
Zhou Guanyu qualified last for the third time in his career at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, having previously done so at the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix. Zhou became the first driver for the former Sauber team to qualify in last place at the Canadian Grand Prix since Pascal Wehrlein did so in 2017.
🇪🇸 Fernando ALONSO
Fernando Alonso made his 18th appearance at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, equalling Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello as the driver to have made the most Canadian Grand Prix starts. On Lap 53 of the race, Alonso became the third driver – after Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen – to have raced 1,000 Grand Prix laps at the track.
After qualifying third and keeping up his record of out-qualifying his team-mate on every appearance at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since 2008, Alonso moved up to second on the final grid. Alonso finished where he started, recording the 104th podium finish of his career. That saw him overtake Kimi Raikkonen as the driver to have scored the fifth most podiums in Formula 1 history.
🇨🇦 Lance STROLL
For the first time in his Formula 1 career, Lance Stroll made it out of Q1 at his home race. The Canadian qualified in 13th place for the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix – the best qualifying result for a Canadian at home since Jacques Villeneuve qualified 11th in 2006.
Stroll received a three-place grid penalty for impeding, dropping him to 16th on the grid. He finished ninth, making this the fourth time in five appearances at his home event that Stroll picked up points. It was the third time he has done so by finishing in ninth place.
🇩🇰 Kevin MAGNUSSEN
Kevin Magnussen finished 17th at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix for a third consecutive visit to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
🇩🇪 Nico HULKENBERG
Nico Hulkenberg qualified in second place for the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, which would have been the Haas team’s first front row start for a Grand Prix had Hulkenberg not received a three-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement. This was only the second time in his career, after taking pole at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, that Hulkenberg set one of the two fastest lap times in qualifying.
After starting fifth, Hulkenberg finished the race in 15th place. He lost ten positions over the course of the race – the most places he has ever lost in a Grand Prix which he has completed. This was the first Canadian Grand Prix which Hulkenberg has started since 2013 in which he has failed to score any points.
🇯🇵 Yuki TSUNODA
Yuki Tsunoda made his 50th Grand Prix start at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, becoming the 145th driver to have made 50 starts in Formula 1. This was also be his 50th start in car number 22. Andrea de Cesaris and Jenson Button are the only other drivers to have made as many as 50 starts in car number 22.
🇳🇱 Nyck DE VRIES
With Yuki Tsunoda 14th and Nyck de Vries 18th, AlphaTauri failed to score any points for the fourth consecutive Grand Prix. This is team’s longest point-less streak since the four races between the 2022 British and Hungarian Grands Prix.
🇹🇭 Alex ALBON
Alex Albon set the fastest lap time in Q2 at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. This was the first time Williams have been fastest in a qualifying session since Felipe Massa set the fastest time in Q1 at the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix. He went on to finish an impressive seventh in the race; his best result since the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Williams team’s best result since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. Albon was voted Driver Of The Day for the fourth time in his career. He was also awarded the accolade at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix, the 2019 United States Grand Prix and the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.
🇺🇸 Logan SARGEANT
Logan Sargeant recorded the second retirement of his Formula 1 career at the became the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. Having retired two laps from the end at the Australian Grand Prix, this was the first time he was not classified in the final result.
