Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll showed impressive pace during a wet and rainy FP3, although changing conditions resulted in an early exit during qualifying.
Heavy rain hit Montreal ahead of Saturday's sessions, but both drivers posted impressive times on a mix of Full Wet and Intermediate tyres during FP3, with Sebastian securing a top-three finish.
Sadly, it was a disappointing result in qualifying, with both drivers complaining of a lack of grip, to exit in Q1.
Sebastian
Sebastian started FP3 on full Wet tyres. Battling oversteer in the slippery conditions, he locked in an early best time of 1.38.294.
Sebastian pitted after 10 laps and returned to the track to demonstrate more impressive pace, setting a time of 1.35.821. A further stop three laps later gave him the chance to test out the Intermediate tyre and he continued to sit at the top of the leaderboard, putting in a time of 1.33.891.
Practice report by Aramco
Lance Stroll was the faster of the two Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team drivers during FP1, ending up seventh overall, while Sebastian Vettel finished fourth fastest in the afternoon's FP2 session.
Late flying laps from Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly meant Sebastian finished in third place, missing out on the second spot by a scant 0.002 seconds.
But despite the promise shown in the morning, the changing conditions made qualifying difficult, and Sebastian ended up 17th with a time of 1.34.512.
"I do not know where our pace went. We did not change much between FP3 and qualifying – but we were too slow and we do not understand it. It is a pity, because we could have gone very well in these conditions.
"Given how the car felt out there, our lap-times are not a surprise. The car was very difficult to drive – it was sliding and had a very poor rear end. We need to have a look at the data because something clearly did not work.
"Still, I am optimistic for tomorrow's race. Today's result puts us on the back foot, but we showed good pace in Friday practice, and we can come back from this."
Lance
Like the rest of the field, Lance started FP3 on Wet tyres. A small PU issue on lap three was quickly resolved, allowing Lance to stay out on track to set an impressive time of 1.38.143, putting him in an early second place.
Sitting within the top five, Lance remained on Full Wets for longer than his team-mate and posted a 1.35.531 lap to lock in a second-fastest time.
Returning on Intermediate tyres after 19 laps, Lance got stuck between traffic, eventually finishing in 13th with a time of 1.35.531.
Unfortunately, with the rain continuing to fall, Lance qualified in 18th place with a time of 1.35.532.
"We were pretty competitive in FP3 this morning, so it was disappointing not to follow that up in qualifying. In Q1, there was just no grip in the car, which meant we ended up stuck at the back of the pack.
"The yellow flag towards the end of the session also meant we could not further improve our lap-times – just when the track was one second per lap quicker as it dried out.
"It will be tough to start towards the back of the grid, but free practice showed our car has good pace, and we will try our best to get points tomorrow."
Mike Krack, Team Principal
"After showing such strong pace in FP3 this morning, our performance in qualifying this afternoon was a disappointment – and we need to thoroughly examine the reasons for the difference in pace between the two sessions.
"Throughout Q1, both Lance and Sebastian were struggling for grip. And, despite a change to fresh tyres, neither driver felt they had the car beneath them to deliver a quick lap when the track was at its fastest at the end of the session.
"We did not do a good enough job this afternoon. We will go away and look at precisely what happened, but we know this is a circuit where overtaking is possible, we have two highly motivated drivers and a good car for tomorrow's predicted dry conditions."
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