Hello, good evening, thank you for joining us for our live blog of the Canada Grand Prix. Action comes from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Notre Dame Island in Montreal, Quebec and the race begins at 7pm UK time. For British fans, considerable excitement because George Russell is on pole, although Max Verstappen is still odds-on to win. If George can do it, it will be his second win in a Grand Prix; he crossed the line first in Sao Paulo in 2022.
Both Russell and Verstappen posted qualifying times of 1:12.000, a rare dead heat but Russell gets the honour because he posted set his time on his first run in Q3. Verstappen could only match Russell’s time on his second run.
It is raining in Montreal so we will keep a keen eye on that and how conditions might affect tactics.
There has been an enjoyable bust-up this week between Daniel Ricciardo and former champ Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian driver, who won the world title in 1997, suggested Ricciardo should no longer be in Formula 1.
Ricciardo made a statement on the track by qualifying fifth for Red Bull junior team RB, then took aim at Villeneuve.
“I still don’t know what he said, but I heard he’s been talking …, but he always does,” Ricciardo said. “I think he’s hit his head a few too many times, I don’t know if he plays ice hockey or something.”
Villeneuve, the son of racing great Gilles Villeneuve, ranted about Ricciardo in a Sky Sports television broadcast.
“Why is he still in F1?” Villeneuve said. “We’re hearing the same thing now for the last four, five years — we have to make it better for him, poor him. It’s been five years of that. Sorry, no, you’re in F1.
“Maybe you make that effort for Lewis Hamilton, who’s won multiple championships. You don’t make that effort for a driver that can’t cut it. Can’t cut it? Go home, there’s someone else who can take your place.”
Ricciardo won the last of his eight career F1 victories in 2021. The 34-year-old Australian raced to his first F1 victory 10 years ago in Montreal.
“I’ve, obviously, been highly motivated to do more than I have been this year,” Ricciardo said. “I know how good those results feel, and that’s why I do it, to feel those highs.
“Coming into the week everything felt right. I was really happy to come back to this circuit and drive here because I love it. Today’s 10 years to the day of my first win, and that day changed my life. So there’s just a lot of nice emotions coming into it.”